A Fabdragon Tale
by guiltyformysins
Summary: When Quinn Fabray wakes up in a strange new world she only has two people she can hope will help her figure things out, Arthur Pendragon and Merlin.
1. Chapter 1

Quinn awoke, rubbing the spot on her forehead that demanded immediate attention. Spots swarmed her vision and things slowly came into focus piece by green piece and she realized, with numb surprise, she was laying in a forest somewhere.

But the real question was... why?

It was like her mind was working through sludge trying to remember what had happened. Glee club practice had gone late and Santana had left with Brit to Breadsticks for dinner. Quinn had wanted to go home and have a nap and watch a movie with Mercedes that night. Then what happened?

The long stretches of time seemed to appear through a fog and disappear with the slightest breeze. Time was far apart and her memory failed, flashes of events rolled through her mind but she didn't remember any of it. What happened after she came home that led her here?

The first issue was stability, of which there currently was none thanks to the confusion. Quinn took deep breaths and waited for the world to stop spinning beyond her ability to focus. Once her balance restored itself she blinked and shielded her eyes from the sun, sliding back through the grass using her arms and pushing herself with her legs until her back pressed carefully against a tree. Her hands clung to the rough bark and she guided herself upwards until standing tall on two feet, although heavily relying on the tree to keep her upright at this point. The change in altitude caused some more pain to her head, although temporary, and she slid the elastic off her ponytail to relieve some of the tension building in her temples.

Frowning and with a slight wince her hair fell from its neat and orderly place atop her head and snaked down her shoulders and back. She sighed gently, sound emitting from her two rosy lips as the discomfort wound all the way around her like a rope constricting her mind from thinking clearly. It was slowly becoming clear to her a sound off in the distance. Although unsure of the direction the sound had a rhythm to it. It grew louder and louder, until she was certain of what it must be, the hooves of horses.

Now she was worried, the sludge was still there but as it moved around it made room for panic and unease. This was a very weird thing to be hearing, hooves in the woods after some sort of head injury. Her body tensed and she felt sick as she waited for the sound to go away. It didn't though, it grew louder and closer while ringing clear as a bell. There was a great deal of shouting too and she felt worried.

Wherever she was wasn't safe, standing in the middle of the woods, back pressed against a tree, waiting for whoever was coming to find her.

Quinn couldn't help but wonder if the sludge in her mind was hiding something awful? Like she'd been kidnapped and was going to be taken away. No, that would not happen to Quinn Fabray, and not by men on horses.

Gingerly and one step at a time she found the largest tree around her and slowly made her way toward it. Her speed picked up the closer the shouting and hooves became. Finally she sank to her knees and crawled the rest of the way, breathing heavily until she was safely on the opposite side of the noisy intruders.

"Merlin, you can't be serious!" It was the first words she heard clearly, her heart pounding, although she couldn't help but wonder at the strange name. Wasn't that the old wizard or something? There had been a movie about it, Disney of course, she'd watched it while babysitting she didn't know how many times. It wasn't going to let her put down her guard though.

The voices bantered back and forth, although it only sounded like two men and their horses they made enough noise for twice as many people. Her breath was slow and even, although her heart raced and the extra blood made her feel dizzy. She forced herself to risk a deep breath and her eyes focussed on something shining and dazzling in the sun. It looked weird, like something Finn might have collected or talked about getting, but why would anyone have a sword?

Unless they really were some sick, crazy people.

The sword was positioned to her far right. The strangers had their attention focussed elsewhere, arguing back and forth. Obviously she was dealing with some very insane people and having a sword would be better than trying to beat them away with a stick. There was a risk though, maybe if she stayed still enough they would leave on their own accord, but if they were the people trying to kidnap her or the ones who caused the bump on her head then that became a different story.

There was no other option in her mind. Ever so quietly she stretched out her arm as far as one could possibly attempt, still coming up short for the reach for the sword. She leaned more until her ribs hurt and her back felt worse than one of Couch Slyvester's backflips. So she pushed further, rolling onto her knees and crawling, aware of every crunch and crackle beneath her as the sword grew closer. Her fingers clasped firmly around the handle she tugged it free from the ground before sliding back over to the tree and taking deep victory breaths.

Now all she had to do was-

What? Fight them off with their own sword? It didn't seem like such a good idea anymore and she fought with herself over what to do. Was there any way she could somehow put it back before either of them noticed it was missing?

Uh-oh, too late.

"Merlin, where's my sword?"

"What? I didn't move it, you left it there in the ground."

"Well then explain to me how a sword can just get up and walk away?" The voice hinted at irritation.

"I didn't touch your precious sword, it's right ther-" his voice suddenly trailed off, Quinn knew it was only a matter of time before-

"And who are you?" A man asked her, stepping out quickly from behind the tree so quietly, the sun glinting off his metal suit.

Quinn screamed, she hadn't known what she pictured behind the voice. The British accent, the suit of armor, the blonde hair and the irritated look on his face.

"Get away from me!" she yelled, holding the sword up, although it was heavier than she expected and she tried not to show how little she knew about holding swords. There was no way she could manage to hold it with just one arm though like in the movies. Instead she opted for holding it straight out with both arms stretched and muscles tense enough to cause her head to throb. "Get away from me," she repeated, taking the time with each word to sound as fierce as possible.

The... what was he, a knight? Playing dress-up? Whatever he was he looked torn between irritation and amusement, glancing back at his partner Merlin. "See what you've done now, Merlin? You've once again managed to mess up your job and now I have to fix things," he said, bringing his attention back to Quinn. "All I wanted was to get my sword back so I can-"

"Hey! Shut up!" Quinn shouted, she didn't want them to think this was a joke anymore.

The knight man flashed a look of shock before taking a stride closer to her, "I am Arthur Pendragon, you can't tell me to shut up. What's your name?" he asked.

"I can do whatever I want, and I'm not telling you, you need to leave, both of you, before I call the police and have you both arrested for kidnapping," she said.

Their faces were dumbstruck, but playing innocent wasn't going to work, even if all Quinn wanted to do was sit back down and take a nap. The last thing she needed to do was go unconscious again after everything that had happened. It was very, very important to stay awake.

"If you don't return my sword you'll be-" he said before she silenced him yet again.

Quinn wiggled the sword around a little more, trying to prove something. Prove she was not to be tested, or scared, she could handle herself- except that before she knew what had happened the sword was tugged out of her small hands and she stared in slight shock at what had unfolded "Just so you know, if you kidnap me I am prepared to scream and bite and do whatever I need to do," she told them with conviction.

The knight just seemed to be pleased to have his sword back and went back to life beyond the tree she'd been hiding. Her eyes followed him before landing on the second half of the pair.

He didn't say much, just looked at her, his mouth would open then clamp shut again and he scratched his head in a perplexed way and took a few steps away from her, before whirling around again. "Where did you buy those clothes?" he asked her.

Quinn raised one brow, lowering it while a sharp pain went through her skull. "Why?" she asked, was he going to take her on a shopping trip?

"I've never seen anyone selling them out in the market," he said.

The market? "I ordered this dress online," she told him hesitantly.

"You ordered it... Where's online?" he asked, fully focussing his attention on her now.

The knight had stepped closer and grew irritated the longer Merlin spent talking to her. "Merlin, we don't have time to talk to her about her clothes. She's lucky I don't arrest her, although I would, if I had the time. We've got to find the necklace."

Oh, maybe they were gay, that would explain the costumes and questions about her clothes. Well that was okay, Quinn had lot's of gay friends, they weren't what worried her. The swords did, though.

Merlin didn't take his eyes off her though. He wasn't leering, but full of curiosity, before his eyes looked full of shock and his hand flew to his mouth. "A-Ar-Arthur! Arthur!" he was yelling and tripping over his feet to back away from her and clung onto the knight, well, she supposed his name was Arthur now that it had been screamed into her ear. "She- she's... It worked! I can't believe it worked- oh no. Oh no..." he was all over the place, hands pulling through his hair and circling a path of frustration.

Quinn stared confused, Arthur with much the same expression on his face. "What are you on about now Merlin?" he asked.

"The necklace must have brought her here, that's why it wouldn't work for us, there was already someone using it," Merlin said, and suddenly Arthur was looking at her with the intensity of a hunter eyeing it's prey and he closed the distance between them faster than she could even let out a breath of shock.

"What is your name?" he asked, his hands on her shoulders, she winced from the pain and he seemed to have notice because his grip softened and he was suddenly raising her up more than holding her, "Please, what is your name?" he asked, a certain softness in his eyes, or maybe that was just the spots returning.

"Q-Quinn, Quinn Fabray," she said, closing her eyes, very dangerously slipping into sleep, strong arms catching her before she could hit the ground again.

"Well, Quinn Fabray, welcome to Camelot."


	2. Chapter 2

By the time Quinn opened her eyes again she'd been awake for 10 minutes already, listening for sounds of people around her. She had seen enough horror movies to know what happens when the victim wakes up, that's when the crazy people had their fun. And though her kidnappers might not be the conventional two she didn't want to risk her life on it.

The room was empty though, no sounds, no soft breath of a stranger nearby watching. When her green eyes opened the room was decorated in the oddest fashion. She laid on a simple bed with a couple extra pillows under her head that were actually not too horrible. A bedside table, a few lanterns, blank walls and books lining the shelves. It was no four seasons, but it wasn't a creepy basement cellar either. It felt like an odd place though and smelled like someone was growing a flower garden.

She looked around for a clock or watch to tell the time, but she couldn't even find a single light bulb or outlet for one. "Where am am I?" she muttered to herself as she slid her legs off the bed onto the floor.

This time she took moving more slowly by gradually standing rather than risk another black-out. Whatever she'd done to her head had been quite painful and horrible for her short-term memory. There was dirt under the nails and stains on her palms and knee's from crawling through the dirt before when she tried to steal the sword.

There was one doorway in the room, it was only sealed off by a burgundy curtain in the stone room and small streaks of light peeked out from the side. She crossed the room in silence and stole a glimpse behind the curtain. It hid a larger room with even more books in it. There garden smell came from a wall lined with flowers, plants and herbs. There were jars of juices, floating objects in dark water and other things she couldn't even begin to guess at what they were.

What if they wanted to make her into a soup? Some kind of sick, weird cannibalistic ritual? The lump in her stomach grew in size while she tried to see all she could in the room from her small hidden space. Another door flew open across the room, an old man walked in with long spools of white hair and a troubled appearance. Maybe he was their cult-leader.

Quinn made her breath as quite as possible while listening. Behind him strode in the two men from the woods, Arthur and Merlin, in that order.

"What will we do with her?" Arthur asked, his question directed to the old man.

But while Arthur was asking questions he was staring into the jars along the wall, making a face every now and then and pulling a face that suggested he shouldn't have sniffed whatever that jar happened to hold so closely.

Merlin and the old man shared looks between each other, more than looks really. An entire conversation passed between the two in heavy hand movements, eye language, they were obviously telling each other something they didn't want Arthur to see.

The old man pulled himself to a more calm composure when Arthur impatiently looked at him, "I'm afraid I do not know the answer to that question, but I do think it would be unwise to send her back into the woods. We do not know the effects her presence here could cause," he said.

She knew they must have been talking about her, but it didn't make sense. Why not just let her go? She could go back on the bus, or plane, how far had they taken her anyway? Maybe she could beg them, promise not to call the police, whatever it took right?

"Great! Wonderful, how am I supposed to explain this one to my father?" Arthur asked, rolling his eyes and suddenly he saw her. Their eyes met, his blue and her green, he'd spotted her and the shock on his face caused the other two to turn and they had seen her there too. So much for pretending to be asleep still.

"My dear! So glad to see you've woken, come, come sit, please." The old man said, though Quinn had already spun back around, upset she'd blown her cover. "Oh, Merlin go in there and convince her to come out. And try to be patient," Quinn heard him say.

The curtain shook and and the dark haired Merlin stood there, uncomfortable, with his arms hanging awkwardly by his side uncertainly. He must have been new to the whole kidnapping thing.

"So, Quinn is it? Yes well I'm Merlin, and that is Gauis and Arthur... Do you remember anything about how you got here?" he asked, his question one more of interest than trying to make conversation.

"You mean waking up in the forest after you two must have... knocked me out and taken me? No, I don't remember anything." she said, her eyes meeting his and refusing to make him more comfortable by trying to look away.

Merlin nodded, seeming as though he were going to move away from her in the already tight-for-space room to ask more questions, but thinking better of it. "We didn't take you, Quinn, we found you. If we hadn't you could have been found by much worse than us," he said earnestly.

Quinn scoffed, refusing to be swayed. "Right, and I'm supposed to just believe that of course. Look, I don't know what you guys want with me... But if you let me go I-"

"No, no I'm sorry. We can't let you leave. We aren't trying to kidnap you though, I swear." Despite herself she wanted to believe him, he didn't look like he was lying to her, but still, the facts didn't line up and nothing made sense.

The curtain ruffled again and Arthur stepped in, filling more of the small space even without his armor on. "Doing well I can hear Merlin, now she thinks were the kidnappers," he said with an amused look in his eyes.

Quinn stared at them both, her face clearly confused now. "If you aren't trying to kidnap me then why can't I leave?" she asked.

"Because if the wrong people find you and figure out what happened my father will be furious. Probably have you killed, too," he said calmly, his matter-of-factness softening when he saw the frown and look of fear cross Quinn's face.

"Well done, now she thinks were going to kill her." Merlin said, without any enthusiasm in his voice.

"Shut up, Merlin," Arthur said.

Quinn looked down, confused. She shook her head a little and the pain made her stop immediately, "So you aren't trying to kidnap me or kill me, then you should be able to tell me at least where I am," she said pleading for information. There was only so much confusion she could handle.

"You're in Camelot," Merlin said, happy to offer this piece of information that didn't involve kidnapping or murder.

"Right, well I don't really know where that is..." Quinn said softly.

"Quinn, we need to mention something here, and it's kind of a big one..." Merlin said, his demeanor uneasy. Quinn glanced at both men in the room, uncertain if she wanted to hear what they were about to tell her. But there wasn't much of a choice in the matter, she needed to know what was going on. Bandits, thieves, robbers, whatever it was.

"You've come to us in a very unconventional way, you sort of... well, you time travelled," Merlin said.

Quinn sighed, "Really? Really?" Quinn asked, annoyed.

This was stupid, these guys were stupid. Who did they think they were playing some stupid game with her? She took a step forward and pulled back the curtain and steeped into the second room. The old man stood with his head over a book and waving a small hand to her, standing straight when Arthur and Merlin left the room with their irritated face. Arthur darted in front of her path to block her from opening the door, they stood almost toe to toe and neither willing to move. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

"I'm leaving, you two had your fun but it's over now. So get out of my way so I can leave you three and whatever game you think this is," she said trying to push him aside, not that it did much use. He seemed a little surprised though, looking over to Merlin who suppressed a smile by covering his mouth with his fist.

"You can't leave, we've told you, you aren't in the same place you were before, and we have a lot of questions for you too," he said.

This joke was going on far too long and it made her uncomfortable. Quinn sighed and tried to move around him, but he wouldn't budge from the door. "Please..." she said quietly, "I just want to go home."

All three men drew in their breath and Quinn felt dread slowly filling her body again.

Camelot sucked.


	3. Chapter 3

There were 3 options for the situation she currently faced.

The first option was she had suffered a terrible fall that would explain the memory loss. It would mean that everything happening was a dream right now, a figment of her damaged imagination despite how real it felt to her.

The second was even worse than a terrible concussion and horrible living nightmare. She was part of some extreme kidnapping plot and her captors were two absolute lunatics who believed they were old storybook legends parents tell their kids to make them go to sleep, and had taken their game too far and now she was stuck here with them.

Or the third option, the worst option. They were telling the truth.

Quinn could feel the blood drain from her face as she considered it. They'd been explaining it to her for at least an hour while she challenged them on every point.

"What about the necklace? It's been in my family for years, I've worn it before and nothing ever happened," she argued.

"I know, that's what I can't figure out myself," Merlin said, frustrated by his own confusion on this point as well.

The necklace had never seemed too special to her, it was old and therefore valuable but not much else was going on. Quinn had told them the story that came with it, her grandmother had been given it as a gift it when she got married, it came from somewhere in England, it was real jewels and not a fake.

The necklace had a long gold chain and the clasp had broken when her mother owned it and repaired in a shop years ago. The jewel in the center was a large sapphire gemstone that still had the ability to shine beautifully. It was Quinn's favourite necklace, so of course she never wore it. Something that valuable could have broke or been stolen easily.

It was around her neck now and she refused to let any of them look at it, only Gauis was the one she allowed to get a closer look, which had annoyed the other two, of course making her feel a little better.

"I don't remember putting it on, I came home from school and then it gets all foggy. When I woke up my head hurt and I was laying out in that forest and you two found me. Before that I couldn't really remember anything, just hearing voices murmuring. I couldn't make any of it out," Quinn said, feeling like she'd been repeating herself.

Arthur wasn't so interested in her story anymore though, he looked bored actually. The four of them sat around a table made of wood and they were all frustrated at this point.

Quinn sighed softly and debated if she believed them or not at this point, time travel was just... not possible. Right? It was just a necklace after all, it had no special powers and if it did why now decide to do something? "I need to look around, make sure you three are telling me the truth," she declared suddenly, looking at each of them one by one.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," Merlin began, but Quinn had expected this, she didn't want to give them a chance to tell her no.

"I have to see this Camelot, with my own eyes. I won't talk to anyone, come with me if you want. Show me around, so I know you all weren't lying and that I really... time travelled," she said, it sounded odder to say out loud than thinking it in her head.

The three of them looked around, Arthur sighing. "I'll show her around then, Merlin needs to go back and make sure they don't wonder where we've all disappeared to for this long," he said. "Get her something to wear too, she can't wear that out."

"And where am I supposed to find a dress?" Merlin asked.

"Don't you have one in your room somewhere?"

"Very funny, and no, I don't." Merlin said, standing up and heading to the door.

"Thank you!" Quinn called out before her could leave. Merlin stopped and looked over his shoulder with a childlike smile on his face, nodding his head and saying something that may have sounded like 'I hope she rubs off on him'.

Gaius still had his head over his book, he was, for the most part, ignoring her now that she seemed to have some of her wit's back. The pain had subsided to something that felt like a headache rather than a hammer on her skull.

"This is so weird," Quinn said to herself more than the other two.

Arthur nodded, sitting back in the chair and stretching his legs out, crossing his arms across his chest. "You're telling me."

"So who are you then? The real Arthur, the one with the sword and something like that?" Quinn asked.

Gaius looked up then, his eyes squinting towards her. "What do you know about that?" he asked.

Quinn rolled her eyes and laughed, "Well I thought it was strange, meeting two people named Arthur and Merlin, then suddenly I'm here by some magical necklace. I'm in Camelot, too. I've seen a movie about it," she told him.

Arthur hadn't seemed too interested in their conversation or paying that much attention, another odd thing a girl from a different time was talking about, he only asked "What's a movie?"

Gaius however had gone from being absorbed in his strange books and suddenly flustered and stood up. He looked troubled and paced around causing them both to look in confusion at him.

Merlin chose the right moment to enter the room though, tucked under his shirt was a long dress with pale blue sleeves and a darker blue corset. "I had to borrow it from Gwen, I told her it was an emergency, I don't think she'll ever look at me that same again..." he said quietly, causing Arthur to laugh as he stood up and gave Merlin a pat on the shoulder.

"Better you than me," he said amused.

Quinn left them all and walked back into the room she'd woken up in, laying the dress out on the bed. She had made sure the curtain was pulled tightly closed and still felt a little odd changing there. "Can you leave the room, please?" she asked.

The men shuffled out quietly and quickly and she peeked to make sure they were really gone before sliding off her stained dress and put the new one on. It was frayed around the sleeves and smelt like clean cotton when she put in on. She swept her hair out from under the collar and over her shoulder. It was like she was playing dress-up here wearing these old dresses.

Quinn left her own dress on the bed unsure of where to put it. It wasn't something she was too concerned with though, seeing as there were a few other things she had to worry about at the time.

"Alright," she called out, and the door opened and Arthur seemed to stare at her for a moment before he smiled.

"Ready?" he asked.

"I guess," she said, following out the door and into a hall.

Merlin had left, Gaius entered the room they had just left and shut the door behind them.

Arthur and Quinn walked together, both avoiding looking at each other, although Quinn was busy trying to find anything familiar to her. Electricity would have been a nice site. "And where am I now?" she asked.

"You're in the castle, this is where the servers sleep and live mostly, when they aren't working." Arthur said, they turned down another hall all lit by candles.

"I'm in a castle?" Quinn said with a shocked face. "Where do you sleep?" she asked.

"Not here," he laughed, "I sleep upstairs."

Quinn nodded, following along, taking the time to run her fingers along the stone walls. "Can I see that too?" she asked, turning her head in time to see him take a gulp. "Or, I don't have to, not yet anyway. I want to see the market Merlin was talking about." she said.

Arthur pulled open another wooden door for her and they trotted up a set of stairs. "That might be a bit difficult, people might start asking who you are, why are you with me."

"Why would anyone ask that?"

"Because I'm the prince," he said. Quinn laughed and reached the top of the stairs, "I'm serious!" he called out behind her.

"You're the prince?" she asked, smiling and then slowly sighed. "Oh, you are serious. Of course you're a prince, why not. Well then you should be able to go outside right? Unless you're scared..."

It was like drawing a bee to honey easy, he puffed up his chest and rolled his eyes, "Of course I'm not scared. Fine, we'll go outside, but try not to draw too much attention to yourself, and don't speak to anyone, you sound like you aren't from here and that might make people ask questions."

"Well that's because I'm not from around here," Quinn said, though falling silent once she saw the floor they'd reached. It looked like a castle now, with guards and busy people who all began to spot them and she moved in a little closer to Arthur.

They approached two large doors, made of both wood and stained glass, they were beautiful and seemed to have some sort of religious appearance to them. Someone opened the doors for them and they went outside into the sun and open air. Quinn took a deep breath and was looking around, it felt like being a fish out of water here.

There were horses and small tents with food being sold, some jewelry, some clothing. Many of the people were trying to be the loudest voice out there and draw people in to buy from them. There were so many people and they were all dressed similar to Merlin and Gaius. The women wore long dresses and Quinn was the only one with her hair down while everyone else seemed to have theirs up or braided. "I can't believe this is really happening."

Arthur looked in complete comfort while he led her around, talking to some people if they said hello, they actually bowed though which she found strange. "We shouldn't stay out for too long, enough people have already seen us," he said.

"I want to look around a little more. Maybe I should get something to wear, if I'm going to be here for any longer. I can't steal anymore clothes," Quinn said.

Arthur sighed and Quinn rolled her eyes at him, it didn't matter if she was in the past or present, men hated to shop. It would have been nice to have Santana or Brit around, even Kurt would have been good. Quinn had slowed though, she thought of home, her mother, her friends. Was she going to be able to get back and see them again?

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, seeing her looking upset.

Quinn mustered up a smile and nodded, "Yeah I just... never mind. So the dress," she said.

As if on cue a woman appeared, wearing an extravagant green robe with slightly matted looking brown hair and big brown eyes. "The young lady would like a dress, of course. Come, come see what I have," she said, gently tugging on Quinn's elbow to draw her closer.

There were many dresses folded or hanging and Quinn took the time to feel all the fabric from silk to cotton. Arthur stood and watched on the side, leaning against a post and every now and then giving a nod of approval if Quinn asked his opinion. "You aren't much help," she told him finally.

"I'm sorry, do you want me to hold them for you too?" he asked sarcastically.

Quinn shrugged, throwing a couple over his shoulder as he frowned and held them.

"I don't think you quite understand who I am, I don't hold dresses for people," he said.

"And I don't think you understand who I am," Quinn said, "Where I come from there aren't kings and queens. Although I almost was crowned queen, but that sort of went badly after my date got thrown out..." she said, pursing her lips a little at the memory and looking at another dress.

Quinn made a few choices though, a royal purple dress with some lace embroidery on it, a yellow dress without the lace and shorter sleeves and finally a blue robe like the one the woman wore but made of silk.

"Beautiful choices, my dear." The woman gave a tight smile, "And how will you be paying?"

Quinn looked at Arthur, who sighed, handing her a few coins. "Thank you." Quinn said.

"They aren't a gift, you'll have to work to pay me back." he said.

"Pay you back? Since I'm your prisoner I think it's the least you could do to let me have these so I don't have to stick out like a sore thumb everywhere I go," she said, trying not to let her temper go.

Arthur laughed, handing the dresses over to her and Quinn picked up the hem off a few so they wouldn't drag through the dirt. They were nothing like some of the clothes she was used to wearing, but they'd have to do.

"You aren't a prisoner, although at this point maybe showing you the prisons would make you feel a little better about how you get to live here now. Come on, we shouldn't talk about this out here," he said.

Quinn sighed and they walked back the way they'd come. She had been confused at first when Arthur accepted a flower given to him by someone on the street, a gift to the prince and his companion, the woman had said. Instead of explaining how Quinn and him had very little in common and were certainly not companions, more like fugitive and prison guard, he accepted the small flower and when they reached the castle doors he twirled it between his fingers the entire way there.

"I've got to go back, talk to my father, prepare for tonight," he told her, looking down at her from the steps.

"And what, I'll just wait around in the basement of this place until one of you figure out how to get me home?" Quinn asked with a quick temper.

Arthur laughed again, although she could tell he was troubled too, he didn't know what to do in this situation either. "Well you could always come if you wanted to, although I'm not sure how I'd sneak you in."

"Fine." Quinn said, agreeing quickly. Anything to avoid being alone with her homesickness for too long.

"Really?" Arthur asked surprised.

Quinn nodded and he seemed to be contemplating something, before he reached out and gave her the flower. "And you're giving this to me because?" she asked.

Arthur shrugged, but smiled and gave her a small wave as her turned around. "I'll send someone to help you tonight, and if you see Merlin tell him we need to talk."

The way back to the servers quarter had been a little confusing, and Gaius apologized to her that Arthur had left her alone after only being there once before.

"It's fine, really," she said, somehow managing manners after being so hostile earlier felt a little forced, but as far as she could tell Gaius seemed kind enough.

Quinn went back into the only bedroom and put the dresses down. They weren't her style at all, but for what she had seen while out that day it looked alright. She sat on the bed and looked down at the flower, why had he given it to her?

Whatever was happening felt a lot like Stockholm syndrome, but she didn't feel that worried at the moment. She knew what she needed to do.


	4. Chapter 4

Quinn was ready in record time, considering there wasn't all that much to do. The dress slid over her delicate arms and down her torso extending past her knees and brushing against the ground. It wasn't her style but this wasn't exactly familiar territory to her either. It had been made quite clear to her that blending in was key. These so-called 'wrong people' were apparently out there looking for her and the necklace hanging around her neck. She'd debated taking it off and hiding it somewhere, but the fact remained that around her neck and out of sight underneath the collar insured that only she and 3 other strange people knew where it would be. And honestly, keeping them away from it wasn't that difficult, they were all afraid to touch it for too long should something happen to them.

While she lacked many of her usual bells and whistles there were a few things she'd managed to do with her hair, pining it back using some ribbon off her dress where she doubted it would be noticeable. She gently twisted the flower Arthur had given her earlier around her hair and it stayed in it's place thanks to years of braiding skill.

Gaius had returned and left Quinn quite alone for most of the day, she sat out bored and alternated between rooms, it was almost an hour before he'd noticed she had grabbed a book from the shelves and begun to read it.

"Which one have you got there?" he asked, his eyes squinting to see the title.

"I'm not sure, I can't really understand most of it, only a few words are in English. It reminds me of Jane Austen, I hated those books," she shrugged and sat a little straighter when he reached his hand out and handed him the book. "Now I'm not allowed to read either? This is starting to feel a lot like prison..."

Gaius seemed invested in the book and she almost continued when Merlin walked in, looking tired and worn out with a rip in the sleeve of his shirt. "See, he looks like he's been having fun."

Gaius peered up at Merlin, the same exchange of wordless communication that Quinn was no longer to let happen and say nothing in the hopes that they wouldn't hurt her. "If you have something to say would you mind sharing it with the rest of the class?"

Merlin looked over and gave her a half smile, "Sorry," he said quickly, "Been a long day."

"Have you finished any of the chores?" Gaius asked.

Merlin sighed, "You can't be serious, I've been running around all day and you still want me to-"

"Running around doing what?" Quinn asked.

The two were not so used to having someone interrupting their every conversation, but Quinn had the sneaking suspicion that it somehow involved her. Well, it wasn't a suspicion, bringing a girl back in time tended to cause a change in the usual plans. "Just, you know, a few things." Merlin said.

Quinn raised one eyebrow and pouted just a little, "Really? So how'd you get that rip on your sleeve then?"

Merlin covered his arm, to no avail though as she'd already called him out on it. "I caught it on a hook earlier, I can be very clumsy," he said.

"Well you don't seem that clumsy to me, who do these lies work on anyway?"

"You'd be surprised."

"Well we need to talk then because I don't like being left out of things, especially when it's about me getting to go back home. So if there's something I should know-"

Gaius coughed, drawing their attention away, though he appeared to be simply clearing his throat as he looked up unaware their eyes were on him and gave a simple shrug.

Merlin though seized the moment as he left in a hurry, backing away and never turning away from Quinn, maybe he thought she'd follow him until he answered her and wanted to beat her to it. "Well, I can tell you anything you want to know, except there really isn't much to tell. Except that- well, never mind. Gaius a word later? I promise I'll explain everything later, let's just, you know-" his hand was on the door and he existed with only his head peeking through the side of the door. "I've just got to pop out for a bit! Chores to be done!"

He wisely shut the door before Quinn could grab her shoe and launch it in his direction.

This was easily worse than listening to Rachel Berry talk about Broadway and the infuriating way she pranced around like she owned the place. It was even worse than any of the fights she'd had with Glee members. Actually, at this point she'd be happy to see a familiar face again, even if it was Rachel Berry.

Frustrated beyond words she retreated into the other room, sighing and laying back on the bed staring at the stone roof. How was she supposed to believe any of this could possibly be happening. In a dramatic moment she squeezed her eyes tightly and pinched her arm, a soft cry of pain before she reluctantly opened her eyes once more only to be shocked by the sight of Arthur standing above her bed. "Am I interrupting something?"

Quinn propped herself up on one elbow with an irritated expression on her face, "No, not that it's any of your business. What are you doing in here?"

"Do you use that tone with everyone?" Clearly he was enjoying irritating her now, she frowned and gave him a scowling expression that hurried him along. "I've finally figured out how I'll get you into tonight's activities, you can be a sever, with Gwen."

"And when you say server do you mean an actual server, like bringing out food to people?" Quinn asked with a horrified expression.

Arthur smirked, "Not quite, how to do feel about cleaning tables?"

"You have to be kidding me- what's this?" Arthur had tossed her a rag, and she couldn't help but feel angry as she looked at the dingy cloth with dark smudges and stains already engrained into the fabric.

"Gwen will show you what to do, don't worry, these things don't usually last too long. Just a couple guests, but we need you to keep a low profile and you can't wear that. It'll get too much attention," Arthur said.

She didn't take the time to notice the extra moment he stared, or the way he seemed to appreciate the dress she was wearing at all. Just the dingy rag in her hand and the feeling like being a princess trapped in her own fairytale where they took her as a servant. She couldn't win in any reality.


	5. Chapter 5

Merlin sheepishly returned not too long after Arthur had left, holding another dress for her, this time a baggy one with beige and a frumpy design. Quinn frowned at the dress as she took it from him. "Please tell me I don't seriously need to wear this..."

He simply shrugged his shoulders a bit, although she could tell he was amused and didn't want to say anything. "Gwen said she'd be down in a bit to help you, and there's lunch out there if you want some," Merlin said, as Quinn tried to rationalize her attachment to the purple dress she'd been wearing that day so far. It wasn't all that exciting of a dress, but a lot nicer than the beige one she'd be forced in later.

"Thanks, but Merlin, can I ask you something?"

He looked uncomfortable, but nodded anyway. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"You can do magic, right? Why can't you just send me back then, don't you know how?" she asked.

He carefully avoided looking at her, checking back into the other room where Gaius was, presumably. "You know about that? How can you possibly know about these things- what, what do they tell you about me in the future?" he asked, leaning forward with a little more interest.

"It wasn't really my topic of interest, but there were movies made about it. Knights of Camelot right? Arthur becomes king, although maybe he shouldn't since he thinks it's a good idea for me to be a servant. He has issues," she said with a nod, "And then the great wizard, Merlin, you are supposed to be a great sorcerer right? Although the one in the movies didn't ever do chores for Arthur."

Although listening still, his face had broken into a smile so wide it made Quinn smile back for a second, laughing at his child-like face. "What?" she asked.

He rocked back on his heels, before doing a tiny jump and filling the room again with his excitement. "Merlin, a great sorcerer! They know about me in the future! No chores!" he walked around the room a bit, strolling out and back in, still smiling of course.

She rolled her eyes a bit and couldn't help but be reminded of her glee club friends. When she left her own room she sat down at the table, some of the lunch that Merlin had brought smelt good, even if it looked odd. "This is...?" she asked.

"What? Oh, it's stew, from the kitchen. You'll like it trust me," he told her.

Quinn braved the stew, putting a spoonful in her mouth, and found it wasn't all that bad really. The more she had the more she enjoyed it, an appetite finally returning to her. She had already eaten her way through a second bowl and roll of bread when the tiny room opened up again and a girl walked through. Quinn quickly swallowed the food in her mouth and grabbed a napkin the clean her face, feeling embarrassed.

"So, are you the one Merlin keeps borrowing my dresses for?" the girl asked, and Quinn spun around and smiled a little.

"No, Merlin hasn't brought me anything..." she said with a smile to Merlin, who of course looked shocked as her tried to swallow the food in his mouth and defend himself.

"She's- kidding!" he coughed.

The girl seemed friendly, clutching a few clothes in her hand as well. "Well it's nice to meet you, Quinn right? I'm Gwen."

Quinn was relieved by the sight of her, another girl, maybe someone she could get away from the rest of these guys with for a little while stuck there. "Oh, Gwen, yes, so I guess your here to show me what to do tonight?"

And show her she did. It was mostly a long list of names of the people coming tonight, that meant nothing to Quinn although the occasional royal title did throw her off a little. "Just, try to be friendly and if they are rude you have to ignore it, or Uther might be a little upset. And Arthur has told me you are to remain as unseen as possible. So you'll be responsible for clearing anything the spills on the floors."

"You mean he told you to tell me to pick up garbage?" Quinn asked.

Gwen nodded a little, smiling sympathetically, "It won't be that bad, honestly."

And though she meant well Quinn didn't feel up for it. Picking up garbage? It was degrading really, and felt silly. It felt stupid, this whole thing was stupid and crazy though so it wasn't too surprising.

After a few more 'lessons' Merlin excused himself, although he'd mostly enjoyed laughing as Quinn memorized certain names and places she paid particular attention to the guests not arriving, seeing how it upset the balance and seating arrangements. They were due to the castle soon and Gwen left shortly after, leaving Quinn alone in the room.

"Merlin, where is she?" Arthur asked irritated, looking around the room full of guests, food, wine and dancing, seeing the heads of servers weaving through, not one the bright shade of blonde belonging to a strange guest from another time. After a moment he locked eyes with Gwen, who gave him a shrug and he frowned a little more, looking over to Merlin and crossing his arms. "Well?"

"I've told you, I don't know. Gwen came by and I left to get ready... she was supposed to be here I- I don't know." Merlin said, looking back at the kitchen and around the room trying to spot her again.

Arthur leaned in closer to Merlin to ensure no one would hear them arguing over this, "If she ran away do you know what could happen to her? Who could find her? You better go back to look for her and bring her back right a-"

Merlin snapped his eyes shut, taking a gulp, "I don't think that'll be necessary."

The sound in his voice made Arthur look up, he turned 10 shades paler and was torn between covering his eyes so he wouldn't have to see it or running over there to stop what was about to happen.

Too late.

The knight stationed at the door turned to address the room, the willowy blonde standing nearby and smiling. "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, Lady Quinn Rochester. Daughter of Sir John Rochester, who could not be in attendance this evening due to illness."

Quinn stood there, smiling bravely and gave a small wave over to Arthur, who could only cover half his eyes and wave back a little sheepishly while groaning into his palm.

Once her name had been called Quinn held her breath, waiting for anyone to call her out on the big fat lie she'd just given them all. But no such thing occurred. She moved into the room and people smiled her and complimented the dress she was wearing, the pale yellow and how beautiful she looked. It was a fair bit under dressed, but she had found a way to make it seem a little nicer. A pin lying on the table beside the bed she slept in, a ribbon tied through the braid in her hair that fell over one shoulder, put together but not overdone. Well, by these standards anyway.

It wasn't a minute later when Arthur worked his way through the crowd and tugged her elbow, "You are mad, and we are getting you out of here," he told her.

"Oh no you don't!" Quinn said loudly, reclaiming her elbow and standing in his way. "I'm not leaving this party, and I'm not a servant you can order around."

"And your not the daughter of a knight either, are you insane? If anyone here has any idea who you are we could-"

"They won't find out, I'm not stupid Arthur. But I'm not going to just wait around for you two to tell me what to do next if I ever want to go home. So here I am, and you can either fight me the whole night and cause a scene, or you can show me around and make sure I don't start talking to the wrong people."

They shared a look for a moment, an eternity could have passed but you wouldn't have known it if you got captured in their glance. Two people fighting for power over the other, stubborn, but something else too. An unstoppable force meeting an immovable object, but Quinn was never going to quit. Finally Arthur groaned and threw his head back, "Fine," he said shortly.

"Fine?"

"Yes, fine, whatever you want. But don't come running to me asking me to save you when this all goes badly because you couldn't do as your told," he said irritably.

Quinn rolled her eyes, he was being very dramatic, and so far everyone she met here aside from him had seemed harmless enough. "That will never happen."

After a moment, when the flourish of their confrontation had died down, Quinn noticed for the first time what Arthur had been wearing. Not a suit or comfortable clothing, he wore a symbol on his clothing and a red collar shirt the fit him well. He looked good, to be honest. He probably would have made some competition for quarterback if he had been in her own time.

Aside from nearly forgetting her 'last name' the night was going well. Most people were interested in their wine and conversation more than checking out the legitimacy of facts.

"And the woman put this hat on me, I nearly tipped over!" Quinn said laughing, as the drunks enjoyed her re-telling of the days trip around Camelot and the market.

Arthur hung gloomily by her side, inspecting anyone who approached and complaining when Quinn insisted they both have a drink. She'd dragged him over to the table with a large barrel and glasses of wine being poured, holding out a glass for him.

"You need to loosen up, you've been standing there sulking the whole night. Don't you know how to have fun?" she asked.

He frowned, "Of course I know how to have fun. But I don't consider babysitting and unwanted house guest to be fun, do you?" he asked sarcastically.

Quinn frowned, unwanted? Maybe unplanned would have been a nicer term, but saying she was unwanted there at all caused a slight sting. "Well I was only trying to be nice," she said, her eyes stinging with the weight of the stress and now feeling unwanted there, she looked away and at anything other than Arthur.

He softened though, his face and bravado faltering when he saw the look in her eyes. In an effort to make amends he grabbed the drink from her hand and gulped down the wine, forcing a cheesy smile onto his face. "Look, see? Happy! And I'm sorry I said you were an unwanted house guest. It's just a lot of trouble to keep someone like you from getting themselves killed. It happens with Merlin all the time."

Merlin appeared again like out of thin air, although in reality he'd been nearby the entire time only speaking with a few other servers and only coming over once he seemed to have seen Arthur calm down a little more. "Keep me from getting killed? Right, of course," he said, though Quinn knew once again he meant otherwise.

"What do you mean a girl like me?" Quinn asked, not upset now but curious.

Arthur relaxed a little more, with another glass of wine quickly replaced in his hand by a server. "You know, one that challenges everything I say, it's not everyday someone does that to me you know. I am the Prince."

"Well Prince or not you can still be wrong, and you must not have met that many interesting people then anyway," she said with a smile, sipping her own wine while taking a peak around the room. It was full of people rowdily enjoying themselves and entertainment the likes of which she hadn't seen.

"Don't look know but I think Uther is coming this way," Merlin said, sticking his head into the conversation to be heard over the music.

Arthur stood a little taller, as did Merlin and Quinn did the same, while others took noticed of Uther moving closer and bowing to him. "Ah, here she is, the girl whose distracted my son this entire evening. Quinn, is it?" he asked.

She remembered enough from Gwen to know to bow to him, looking up with her own charming smile, "Yes, it is, a pleasure to meet you sir."

Arthur stared and blinked a few times at her in shock, before looking at his father with a sort of confused smile. "Yes, she's an old friend, we've been catching up."

Uther was in a good mood as he and Quinn talked, was she enjoying the music? How long was she in town for? Would she send word to her father that he hopes he recovers well? She kept up well enough, only a stumble once or twice that Arthur or Merlin were soon to correct, their own little team working together.

"Come, you'll have to dance, Arthur why don't you have the honor?" Uther asked, with a wink noticed only by his son.

Arthur stammered a bit, but nodded and Quinn smiled at him amused, then suddenly worried. "I don't know how to dance like you do," she whispered.

"Just try to follow my lead," he said, taking her hand and leading her out.

The music was even louder now, people playing their instruments and lively dancing away. Arthur took hold of her hand, and placed his hand firmly on the small of her back, moving her in closer until both their chests were touching. She nervously stepped in stride with him, her eyes peeled to her toes and he would smile each time she stood on one of his toes. "Oh, whoops, oops, oh sorry!" she kept whispering again and again until it roused a laugh from him each time.

"Try not to look and just go with it," he told her.

So she took a deep breath, knowing the steps well enough at this point and feeling secure while he held her that she wouldn't go flying into the person next to her. As long as he had the lead she could follow along and somewhere along the way began to enjoy herself.

They were spinning in the room and laughing, Quinn stared at Arthur and there was none of the awkwardness of eyes meeting in close proximity, because they were moving too fast and enjoying themselves now. What little wine they both had was multiplied by the spinning and music and it was a long time before either of them noticed they were being stared at by people in the room.

Arthur took a wrong step, Quinn responded the same and lost her footing, though he caught her before she could hit the ground. "Thanks."

He was laughing and the crowd had lost some interest now, they moved aside from the floor and closer to Uther who was swept in conversation with a few important looking people.

When Uther noticed them standing nearby his eyes drifted to the hand still placed on Quinn's back and Arthur noticed it then too and pulled away from her. Quinn hadn't been too close with her own father lately, but this was different, King and Prince were a lot more responsibility than simply father and son and she felt it in that moment.

Arthur leaned in a little closer to Quinn, whispering now, "Wait over there with Merlin, please?"

She nodded, bowing before the king once more and backed away over to Merlin. "What's going on?" she asked.

"The guards found something outside the gates, they aren't sure what. Arthur will have to take the knights and go see, I'm assuming, since that's how these things usually work, " he said.

"Why does Arthur have to do it? Is it dangerous?" she asked.

"He'll be fine," Merlin said, and Quinn believed him.

Quinn realized she was worried now of course for Arthur, more worried than upset that her night would have to end soon. Without him there she wasn't as confident about making her way through the festivities and keeping up with the life she'd made up for herself.

She watched quietly beside Merlin until Arthur was nodding and she could tell they were getting ready to leave. He returned to them and Arthur spoke directly to Merlin, "I'll need you to grab my horse, get him ready just in case. But first I'll need my armor." Merlin darted off with the same reluctance he carried for almost every chore assigned, but without protest.

"I'm going to have to go, I don't think it's a good idea if you stay here alone," Arthur told her.

"That's what I was thinking... You are going to be alright, right?" she asked hesitantly.

He grinned a little, "Why, will you be worried about me?"

"You wish."

He laughed and took a step towards his other knights who were preparing to leave, "Of course, I'm not the one who needs protection here."

She frowned and tilted her head a bit, "Whatever you want to believe. But hey, when you come back just come say goodnight? Just so I know you aren't dead or whatever," she said.

"Fine," Arthur said, although she caught him smiling as he turned to leave.


	6. Chapter 6

Gwen had led her out of the party and she snuck back under through the to the servants area. They both held a candle in their hands to light up the dark halls, even though they were some lanterns.

Gwen wasn't speaking though, her body ridged as she led the way and Quinn felt guilty for lying to her about showing up. "I'm sorry I didn't help today, I just-"

Before she could finish her sentence Gwen turned to glare at her. In a moment she was likely to unleash something on her, Quinn was well familiar with that look, like crossing a territorial line. "Oh god, do you like Arthur or something? Is that why you've got the huge bitch face right now?" Leave it to Quinn to get straight to the point.

Gwen stared at her hard for a moment, a brief look of confusion passing her face. "No, of course not, that would be stupid."

"Right, it would be stupid, because I don't like him either. I don't even know him, and right now I have more important things to be worrying about than chasing after your man," Quinn said.

The two remained rooted to their spots in the long halls with stone all around them, before they picked up the sound of footsteps coming from the other end, quickly approaching them.

"Morgana?" Gwen called out once the figure of another girl came into view. Tall, dark hair and a little out of breath from the run with a big smile on her face.

"I'm glad I caught you two, you left so quickly I-" she paused to inhale, "I didn't have time to say hello."

Quinn smiled brightly at the girl, who was dressed far nicer than Gwen, she must not have been a servant either. "I'm Quinn, Quinn, um-"

"Rochester, I remember. I'm Morgana. Where are you two sneaking off to? The party isn't nearly over, you should come back so we can have a chance to talk. I don't believe I've met you before, although maybe when we were quite young," Morgana said, smiling expectantly.

At the same moment, Gwen declined and Quinn accepted excitedly. She didn't want to deal with Gwen and whatever feelings the girl had now, she wanted to continue with the party for a little while longer.

"Oh, Gwen are you sure you won't come?" Morgana pleaded.

Gwen looked away, feigning a yawn and shook her head, "No, I really should sleep now. Goodnight," she turned away sharply, disappearing with her light and headed down the hall.

"So," Morgana said, "Tell me about yourself."

The two girls walked the rest of the way back to the party, easily engaging the other in conversation and returned to the party, where there were still many people enjoying themselves, although she noticed the King was no longer there. They both had another drink and sat at a table reserved for Morgana and a few other guests who were no longer seated. "And how long will you be staying for?" Morgana asked.

"I'm not sure right now, it could only be for a few days, or a while longer." Quinn had no idea when she would return home, she hadn't been able to pin Arhthur or Merlin down long enough to get an answer from one of them.

"Well we will have to spend time together tomorrow, why don't you come back here and we'll spend the day? Besides, if you are getting closer to Arthur there are probably few things I should warn you about," she said with a smile.

"What sort of things?" Quinn asked.

"He's stubborn, very stubborn, but he's a good guy, too. Just don't make him angry or he'll pout around all day," she laughed, and the image of a pouting Arthur wasn't that hard to picture.

"I've already seen that side of him, I was hoping it was just a bad day," Quinn said laughing. She glanced quickly around the room, seeing Merlin and Gaius off to the side together, their conversation reminding her of the way a father and son might talk. She knew so little about the both of them, Merlin and Arthur, although she seemed to be aware of the magical abilities Merlin possessed. Secrecy had been the main rule not to break, don't talk about any of the magic that brought her here and don't under any circumstances reveal the necklace that had brought her there. It was safely swept under the collar of her dress, held down with a small pin so there would be no way for it to fall out.

The night went on and the crowd thinned out, while Morgana enjoyed telling Quinn some stories of the castle and Arthur. "Where are you staying?" Morgana asked, as she herself had been speaking of going to bed for at least an hour now.

"Well right now I'm in the servants area, with Merlin and Gaius," Quinn told her.

"Really?" Morgana asked, shooting a look over at Merlin, "Why on earth would they put you there? There is plenty of guest rooms, why don't you stay there?"

Oh, the tempting offer, especially considering it would allow her to have an entire room to herself without the sounds of Merlin and Gaius in the morning, and probably fewer chores for her to do in an effort to help out. "Oh, I'm fine down there, it's really great I'm having a lot of fun learning from them," she said. In the end that was the truth, Merlin had been something of a source of amusement to her in the past couple days, teaching her small things. The burden he felt must have been huge as all eyes were on him to explain the necklace situation and get her home, he felt bad enough and she didn't want to abandon them and make it any more difficult for her to return home.

"Well alright, but you'll still have to join me tomorrow, it will be fun!" Morgana said happily, hugging her quickly and disappearing towards the end of the evening.

"Ready to head back?" Merlin asked her, happily stepping over to her. The two left the room, heading back out the way they originally came through the long hall.

"Why didn't you go with Arthur, Merlin?" Quinn asked once they were alone.

Merlin grinned, "I was told not to leave you alone again, lest you claim to be the new princess of Camelot."

Quinn grimaced, "I wouldn't do that...", Merlin glanced over suspciously, "Well I wouldn't do that now."

They quickly arrived to their own rooms ad stood out in the hall, "Gaius is still with Uther?" Quinn asked, noticing the lack of his presence.

"Yes, they often wait while Arthur out, I'm normally with them. Actually, I'm normally with Arthur," he said.

"Are you worried about him?"

"No more than usual," he said.

"Well I suppose I'll just go to sleep, you're going to go wait for him then?" Quinn asked.

Merlin nodded, "Yes, I'll see you around tomorrow though," he smiled and disappeared out the door. Quinn could hear the first few footsteps of his until he was out of earshot.

Quinn sighed happily to herself, going into her room and slipping out of the dress, hanging it up and fidgeting with trying to get the slip off. She noticed on the bed another gown for sleep, Gwen must have brought it in for her. She felt guilty, being rude to Gwen for no reason other than feeling backed into a corner, when she had been the one to lie to her. There was no telling how long she would be stuck in Camelot and she needed to make it up to her. Quinn thumbed the neckless that hung heavy on her neck and stretched her bones a little, slipping on the nightgown.

It was a mess though, the gown was too long and Quinn hated it. Her mother had taught her a thing or two about dresses, she knew how they fell on her body and how to adjust them. She scooped the bottom and folded it together, pinning it with the same pin she had worn that night on the other dress. It came only just above her knee, but felt much cooler and looked nicer.

Next she undid the braid in her hair, shaking her hair out and brushing it through until it was smooth again. She shook it a little and played with it some more until eventually being bored with that again. Quinn hopped onto her bed, there was no telling how long it would be until Arthur returned, and she was really tired already.

She curled into the bed and let her head drop onto the pillow, moving around to keep from falling asleep. Her eyes had only just managed to drift shut when she heard a knocking on her door. "I'm not ready yet, mom," Quinn said, mumbling softly under the covers.

"I'm not you mum," the voice echoed back.

She sprung up, her eyes snapping open, "Right, come in!" she called, she smoothed back her hair and Arthur stooped in, still fully dress in his armor, with his helmet tucked under one arm and sword banging the wooden frame of the door as he came in. "You stood me up tonight," she said, smiling in the dimly lit room.

Under the shadows she saw the sides of his mouth fold back, a half smirk hovering on his face, "Duty called."

"So, why did you have to leave?" she asked, her brow quirking up on one side while Arthur set his helmet down on the table, removing his sword and some of the heavy armor off his shoulders, it made loud clanking sounds and she grimaced a little.

"Sorry, uh, that's a private matter that I'm not sure you would be allowed to hear."

Quinn folded her arms stubbornly, "You'd better tell me, or I'll just have to follow you next time and find out for myself. And don't think I won't."

He sighed deeply, taking a seat in a corner chair near the window by her bed. "I was afraid of that." Quinn smirked, seeing Arthur's face lit by some pale light in the night, a small window considering they were a floor beneath the ground, it reminded her of prison movies where the worst inmates were kept below the ground. He slid his rather large frame down into the chair and his legs extending in front of him.

"You look exhausted," she said.

"That's because I am," he said, a smile playing on his lips.

Quinn sat on the bed, her legs hanging over the side with a slight swing to them. "So why did you leave?"

"There was a disturbance at the gates, the guards saw a couple horses with riders heading off into the woods and we followed to make sure they weren't up to anything," he said, though she could tell the selection in his words by the way his brow furrowed.

"And?"

"And it was nothing, they were just delivering a message. It was a message for the girl... for the girl with the necklace," he said, suddenly looking up at her and judging her expression.

Quinn steadied herself. "What was the message?"

"You're sure you want to hear this?" Arthur asked.

"Of course I'm sure, I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know. So go ahead, tell me," she said.

Arthur took a deep breath, making sure to look her in the eyes, "It said- it's none of your business."

"None of my business? Why would it say th- oh, you think you're really funny don't you!" Quinn said, picking a pillow off the bed and throwing it at him, however he caught it before it could hit his face.

"You don't think I'd really tell you top secret information after the stunt you pulled tonight, do you?" he asked, with a certain amusement in his eye.

"Yes I do actually, considering I'm the one being held here against my will and deserve to know what's going on," she said with a snapping tone to her voice.

"Well I disagree, and if you have a problem with that you can complain to the king. Oh wait, that's right, you lied to him in front of all of Camelot pretending to be a knight's daughter, so unless you want to be taken into the prison with much less enjoyable accommodations," he said, standing and taking his belongings with him as he crossed the room to the door.

Quinn seized another pillow threw it furiously at him, hitting him in the back as he laughed it off. "I'll find out, Arthur!" she yelled.

"Not in this lifetime, princess."

Before she could reach for another pillow she hesitated, "Princess?" she asked sarcastically.

"Well since you're acting like one, I figured it suited you. Goodnight, Princess," he said, before leaving the room.

"And goodnight to you too, liar," she sighed crossly, folding her arms across her chest and leaning against the back of the bed. "Well if he's not going to get me out of here then I'm going to have to do it myself."


	7. Chapter 7

A week in Camelot could not have been considered an easy week by any means. Quinn had scrubbed almost every surface of the tiny home she shared with Merlin and Gaius, who everyday would complain more and more about their things being moved around. She had to explain how it was impossible to live in filthy dust and that they should be happy she was doing it for them instead of the other way around.

But that only took so many hours in a day, and the rest of her week was spent mainly with Morgana or Merlin. Morgana liked to show her around the castle and they'd have long talks about things Quinn knew mostly nothing about. She'd ask Merlin about it later, who was this or that person? How did magic so often enter into the castle to cause mayhem? Merlin was another source of entertainment, because he'd been running around ragged trying to do chores for Arthur that he had little time or energy left to figure out the mystery behind Quinn being there. She'd taken to coming along with him and helping him with buffing armor or poking around at everything from swords to arrows.

One afternoon after Merlin finished cleaning off one of the horses in the stables Quinn found an archery bow against the wall, picking it up and turning it over a couple times. It was something she'd tried before in camp but never found to use for it outside of those two weeks in the summer. She held it up and found the bow sac nearby, pulling a long straight arrow and placing it into the bow, drawing it back and aiming against the back wall of the barn. It sailed straight into wall and the tail end of the bow made a whooshing sound.

"It seems you have some talents after all." Quinn turned her head to see a pleasantly surprised Arthur standing there, dressed in his more casual clothing that she often saw him in. Although he'd been avoiding her the entire week or any of her attempts to talk to him.

"Oh, I'm full of surprises," she said.

Merlin rolled his eyes and Quinn suppressed a smile, beginning the retrieve the bow. "Your aim's a little poor though," he said, to which she scoffed and turned around on him.

"It hit the wall, didn't it?"

"Yes, but that could have been pure luck, your body was completely ridged and you had no idea where it would land, you couldn't make the same shot twice," he said smirking.

"Fine. It's a bet," Quinn said, glaring. Arthur and Merlin exchanged a skeptic glance between the both of them as she found another arrow from the bag.

"And what are we betting here?" he asked.

"If I win," she said, slowly loading the arrow into the bow, "You have to take me with you back to where you first found me here."

Arthur looked at Merlin, who shrugged, and he pouted just a bit as he folded his arms before replying, a little crossly, "Fine, and when you miss, you'll have to come clean stables with Merlin for a week," he said, earning another eye roll from Merlin.

"Fine," Quinn said. She took a deep breath, holding up the bow in her arm steadily and as she let the air out loaded another bow, aiming her arm and releasing the arrow. "We'll leave tonight, after nightfall," she said, the arrow holding still less than an inch from it's original spot.

Quinn set the bow back down and turned around, pleased with herself and the look of pain on Arthur's face while he complained to Merlin, "Why didn't you tell me she could shoot well?"

"That's because I didn't know," Merlin said, amused.

She rubbed a spot of dirt off her hands and saw Gwen making her way towards them, with a pitcher of water most likely not for her or Merlin. Quinn decided she didn't like Gwen, not the looks she gave her or the non-subtle way she injected herself into every conversation Quinn started with Arthur.

"Hello Arthur, Merlin, Quinn," Gwen said, smiling but it did look a little forced, although she was probably just looking for reasons not to like her now.

The three mumbled back replies and Arthur smiled like a puppy at Gwen, while Quinn watched helplessly to the side biting her lip and reminding herself she was technically being held against her will here.

"Something wrong, princess?" Merlin whispered, leaning over and giving her a grin.

If only looks could do physical damage, "Don't tell me you've started doing that too? One's more than enough." Quinn said, pushing his arm a little and causing Merlin to grin more.

"No, I haven't," he said, with a shake of his head, looking back down at his work, "But Arthur's told me it really seems to bother you. Why is that?"

Quinn blinked a bit, making herself wait in between stares at Arthur and Gwen to see if she'd tried to touch his arm again, "It's just not true. I'm not a princess, I've made a lot of mistakes and that's not what a princess does. A princess is perfect and I'm obviously not."

"Everyone makes mistakes, Quinn," Merlin said.

Quinn looked down, feeling herself get embarrassed, "I've made some really, really bad ones. Being here makes me wonder if I'll ever get to go back and make them right."

"You never know, I've been working with Gaius a lot while you've been out with Morgana, we think we've found the spell used to bring you here. We just... we haven't figured out who used it, or why, or how it got in your hands... But it's only a matter of time!" he said, with the helplessly encouraging smile.

"You have? Can you guys show me it? Maybe I can-"

"Quinn is our guest," Arthur said suddenly, and Quinn spun her head back so fast to see the frustrated gestures between Arthur and Gwen, as she tried to get quieter and Arthur crossed his arms.

"I just don't trust her, who did you say her father was again? I could have sworn that he-"

"Gwen I won't have you accusing my guests, I think you need to go." Arthur said, but it looked uncomfortable for him to say. Gwen looked crushed, Merlin seemed uncomfortable too and Quinn wanted to say something then. But the moment wasn't right, and Gwen quickly left staring at the ground and not wasting a single glance in her direction.

Arthur stood there angrily, his arms crossed against his chest and watched Gwen disappear. Once she had disappeared he looked back and saw Quinn and Merlin sitting and staring awkwardly at him, "Be ready tonight by midnight," he quickly left disappeared inside the castle. Quinn tried not to imagine him finding and apologizing to Gwen.

"Well, that was awkward," Quinn said, but Merlin just starred into his work. "Do you have anything to add?"

"Nope."

"Wonderful."

Quinn sighed and left Merlin to work, thinking of the one person who might actually be able to talk to her about anything happening, and knocked on Morgana's door.

"Yes?"

"It's me, Quinn!"

"Oh, just wait, one minute!"

She leaned against the stone cold wall and heard the sound of ruffling and some small banging, but Morgana threw the door back and smile brightly. "Quinn! I thought we were going to see each other tomorrow evening?" she asked.

"Oh, you're right, I'm sorry I can come back," Quinn said, stepping back. She was constantly forgetting the fact that she was with royals, it almost felt like cheerleading and ruling the school, how people figuratively and actually bow to you.

"No, come in, you look upset what's happened?" Morgana asked, all concern.

"It's just, something happened today and I guess I'm feeling a bit... homesick."

Inside of Morgana's room was probably the nicest room by far, she'd been in it a couple of times already to try a dress on or help Morgana get ready, but it still made her jealous. As soon as she got home she wanted to start working on some new designs for her own room.

"Did you get news from your father, is he still ill?" Morgana asked, closing her door.

"Oh- oh, no, he tells me he's feeling much better, and that he misses me," Quinn said, feeling a little odd. She hadn't spoken to her actual father in a while.

Morgana sat down on her bed, looking at Quinn who stood just in front of her, "Then what's happened to make you look so upset?"

"I think, well, does Arthur like Gwen?" she asked.

Morgana laughed, shaking her head, "I'm not sure what Arthur thinks, but it wouldn't matter. Gwen is a servant, a good servant and a good friend, but the king wouldn't allow that."

It was what Quinn had been thinking all along. "I think she likes him."

"He's the prince, everyone likes him," Morgana said, like it was the most normal thing in the world.

"Right..."

"Do you like him?" Morgana asked, with a coy grin on her face.

Quinn blinked, did she like her kidnapper? Did she? "No, he's fine and all, but I'm just worried about Gwen not liking me. And if he feels something for Gwen I'm worried about what she might say or do," she said, fully aware of the precarious situation she was in. Totally dependent on Arthur and Merlin, needing them to send her home and not keep her in the prison in the meantime.

"Arthur isn't going to be swayed by that, he's nothing if not a man of his word, almost annoyingly so. Besides you don't have anything to worry about, he likes you, I can tell. I've lived with him my whole life and never seen him take to any woman nearly as well as you, he finds most to be a bit of a distraction," she said.

"Great, so I'm not good enough to be a distraction?" Quinn asked laughing.

"Not at all, he's just got to be careful is all," Morgana said, and she could tell what she meant in that moment.

"Thank you, Morgana, I'm sorry to have interrupted you tonight, but I should go now," Quinn said with a smile.

"Think nothing of it, I'll see you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Absolutely."

Dinner with Gaius and Merlin that night mostly centered around the spell they thought had been used to bring Quinn there, although she was confused and didn't understand some of the things they were talking about. She ate in silence trying to think of what she would look for when she went back to the spot in the woods, maybe she arrived with something else. Maybe her purse or something in it, she'd be excited to find chapstick at that point.

After dinner she cleaned up the rest of their dishes and studied the symbols and words in the spell book Gaius had showed her, their strange swirls and loops. It didn't look like anything she'd ever seen before.

Once Gaius had gone to bed after making a potion for the king to sleep Merlin went to bring it to him, Quinn grabbed a piece of paper and a piece of charcoal, placing the paper over the symbol in the book and rubbing over it, it's imprint showing through the page well enough for her to see. It wasn't perfect, but it was close. She brought the paper into her room and changed into a pair of pants Merlin had leant her, that she'd been warned to not wear out. But she couldn't ride a horse in a dress, she could do almost everything in a dress, but not horse riding.

Merlin went to bed and she peaked out the windows to try and guess the time, before hearing the door creak open.

"Quinn?" Arthur whispered.

"I'm here," she said, tightening a belt around her hips and feeling the weight of the paper and charcoal in her pocket.

Arthur led her out with a lit torch and she saw he wasn't in his full-blown knight gear, but still had some armour and a sword. Who did he think they were going to run into? Once they were outside where two horses were waiting for them both. Quinn saw the height of the horse and looked around for a second before realizing, with dread, she was going to have to jump to make it up on the horse.

"Here," Arthur said, leaning down with his hands out to help her.

"Thanks," Quinn said, placing one arm on his shoulder and one on the saddle, he lifted her and she easily swung her leg over the side of the horse, getting herself in and taking hold on the reigns, stroking the mane of the horse for her own comfort more than anything.

"Just so you know, it's very dangerous for us to be going out here, we don't know who we could run into or whose looking for you. This is against my better judgement-"

"But I might be able to remember something, or find something that you haven't, so it's a good idea after all," Quinn said, smiling.

"We'll see," Arthur said, clicking his heels and sending the horse on it's way.

They trotted off into the woods with their torch light leading the way. "How do we know where we're going?" Quinn asked, squinting through the dark and shivering.

"I've been in these woods longer than I've been in that castle, I know where everything is. But you don't, so stay close," Arthur said.

The forest was much more frightening at night, every dark spot seemed to hold her gaze, she shivered at the brush of the wind and every snapped twig made her jump in surprise. "Arthur?"

"I know you haven't spent much time in the woods, but it's not so bad, I was just trying to make you show a little more caution."

"Mission achieved then," she said.

Arthur pulled a little on the reigns and his horse slowed down, following closely beside Quinn, only a couple feet separating them so that there was more light for her to see. "Better?" he asked.

She nodded and gave him a smile, to which he smiled back, before turning his attention back to the woods.

"What was it Gwen was saying earlier about me?" Quinn asked.

"That she didn't trust you, and that she thought you were up to something. She was looking into your story about your father, the knight, if she told the wrong person they might start to look into it and they'd realize you were lying. You'd be in a lot of trouble you do realize?" he asked, looking over at her.

Quinn bit her lip, "I've been trying not to think about that too much."

Her horse made a loud sigh and Quinn jumped, clutching tightly onto the reigns and breathing in relief when she realized the horse must just be bored of walking. Always a good sign when the animals aren't scared. "Are we close?" she asked.

Arthur nodded and a few minutes later they arrived, he took the reigns and tied the horses off, with Quinn hovering near him trying to find herself within the ring of light and offering to hold the torch while he tied the horses. "Well, here it is," Arthur said, waving an arm around the place. "Feel free to look around."

Quinn nodded, suddenly aware of her unpreparedness for this. Maybe she should have asked Gaius some more questions before she left. She bent down and tried to see behind every bush, the tree she had first hid behind, even laid down on the grass where she had first woken up. It was around when Arthur started laughing at her that she started to feel annoyed. "I'm sorry, but do you have a better method to try and remember what happened? Oh that's right, you have no idea. Why don't you stop laughing and come over here and look with me."

Arthur must have been caught a little off guard by her tone, because he clamped his mouth shut and poked his head around the place too. Quinn sighed and sat down on the grass with her knee's against her chest, holding the flame away and still being able to feel it's warmth. Too bad she hadn't paid attention in high school science or she could have invented electricity already and used a flashlight.

It was then that she noticed something, she moved away some of the brush and saw a mark in the tree, though it was hard to tell what it was exactly. "Arthur, hold this, I think I found something," she said, passing along the torch as he tried to see what she was doing. Quinn grabbed the paper from her pocket, a fresh sheet and began to rub the charcoal over the paper on tree and get the imprint. When she finished she held it into the light, "Does this look like anything to you?" she asked.

"Yeah, it does," Arthur said uncomfortably.

"What? What does it look like?"

"A necklace, one that... one that my mother wore..."


	8. Chapter 8

Arthur had felt his mouth go dry as he stared at the picture in her hand and the one in his mind. It had been his mother's, though he didn't know for certain, but it looked so distinctly like one he'd seen in her possessions and a painting of her. He stared hard at the drawing and moved the torch near the tree to see the shape of the marking, it didn't resemble something that had been done with a knife. The line were smooth and clean, like the wood had just melted away and the perfect design remained.

Quinn stared for a long time at him he realized, he tried not to think about it too long. He gathered a few twigs and broke a branch off a nearby tree, using the flame from the torch to light the small fire. It wouldn't last long, but he hadn't planned on staying there a while. "We need to head back soon," he said, throwing another twig into the flames and watching it be swallowed.

"Not until I find something useful," Quinn said, wiping at her forehead and smearing dirt as she did so.

"Tell me princess, how much time have you spent exploring the woods in your life?"

She frowned and looked purposefully away, "A few camping trips here and there, but we had tents and were on campsites. The worst that's ever happened is an over-friendly raccoon trying to break into the cooler."

Arthur didn't quite know what a cooler was, but he knew raccoons to be pesky creatures himself. "Well you look like you've been raised in a palace, and you have dirt, on your forehead," he said chuckling.

She narrowed her eyes at him and came closer to the fire, sitting beside him and they both stared into the flames, watching a stick roll or turn black, the flames licking any hint of life left in them. His father used to warn him about fires, they might be beautiful to watch but a lot could be happening while you weren't paying attention. "Should we go back?" he asked.

"No," Quinn said, looking at him, "What happened to your mother?"

Arthur frowned, "I don't want to talk about it," he said with a tone of anger in his voice. Quinn softened a little bit, her sharp face turning a little more gentle than he could remember seeing it before, it looked like pity to him. "Not with you, anyway."

Her eyes flashed for a second with some hint of emotion, though which he couldn't tell, before she smoothed it away all together. "Fine, then what about the necklace, what happened to it?" she asked.

Arthur shrugged, "I've no idea, it's probably back with her other things. He didn't keep much but I remember that necklace."

"There has to be something to do with that necklace, it must have been a symbol for something, magic or-"

"That's my mother you're talking about! She wasn't a witch," he said sharply.

"No, no I didn't mean that, just that maybe... Maybe she got the necklace from someone who was a witch or wizard, whatever. Maybe if we can figure out who gave that to her we can figure out how it's symbol got on that tree. It must have something to do with why I'm here, right?" she asked.

Arthur didn't know, though. He wasn't sure it was a good idea and wasn't sure he wanted to go looking through his mothers past and trying to find something there. He knew well enough the kind of damage magic could do and didn't want to see it destroy any more in his life. "Maybe," he said.

Quinn was looking at him intently, trying to read him, but Arthur turned his head away to watch the dying fire and she looked into it too. "Maybe I could talk with the king, ask him what he knows about it."

"No, I forbid it," Arthur said, without anger or humour, as cut and dry as he could be about anything.

"You forbid it? Don't you know I'm not going to listen to you by now?" Quinn asked.

Arthur stared deeply at her, "About this you will, if you mention a word about my mother to my father you'll raise a lot of suspicion about yourself. If he finds out you're a liar there will be nothing I can do to keep you from being killed, do you understand?"

Quinn looked ill and swallowed, nodding her head. He felt sorry for her, sorry she'd somehow been thrown into this mess and responsible. Camelot was his home and his place to protect, even if she wasn't from Camelot did he not owe her something?

"Do you think he'd really kill me, if he knew? Couldn't we just... just explain things to him?" Quinn asked.

Arthur shook his head slowly, "No, since you've already lied to him he won't believe anything you say. He'll think you have magic and you'll be killed, I've seen it happen many times. There's nothing I could do to stop it."

She nodded her head slowly, "Would you try, though?"

"Try what?"

"To stop it, I mean, if it came to that," she said, looking at him now, her eyes wider than he remembered them being. She had lovely eyes.

"Yes," he said.

"Promise?"

"I promise."

They rode back to the castle silently, after their fire had died he kicked dirt on the ashes and Quinn made sure they left nothing behind once more. After being out all night they were both exhausted by the time they'd reached the castle, putting the horses back into the stables and walking back together.

"It's sunrise," Quinn said, squinting slightly and looking to the east as the sky blended with colours and the sun was approaching.

"It is," Arthur said, looking at her.

"I've never seen a sunrise or sunset more beautiful than here, in Camelot," she said.

Arthur wasn't sure what to say, he'd never really been around women a lot. Of course there was Morgana, but she didn't notice things like the sunrise, unless complaining about him waking her up much too early for one. There were the knights too, but they didn't talk much about the beauty of nature while on duty. "Yes, well, there's one everyday."

"That's not the point, look..." Quinn sighed and turned to look at him, "I really do appreciate what you and Merlin are doing for me, even Gaius and his chores are starting to grow on me. I know I haven't been your favourite person but, thank you, Arthur."

Arthur stared in wonder as she leaned up and kissed him on the cheek, she pulled away and bit her lip, smiled faintly and turned to head back into the castle.

He turned around with a grin on his face and newfound appreciation for the sunrise.


	9. Chapter 9

It was a frigid morning that day, Quinn wrapped two extra blankets around herself and could still feel a chill. She slept tightly curled and only for a few hours, her jaw hurt a little from being so tightly clenched from chattering through her sleep. She kept a couple blankets tightly around her as she shuffled out of her room and sat by the fire, teeth chattering away and trying to warm up. ""G-Gaius?

Gaius entered the room and had a few items in his hand that he would use to make something for the king, or so she had learned. Mostly helpful herbs and remedies, no magic involved. His face filled with concern as he saw her pale lips and face, "My dear, what's wrong?" he asked.

"It's s-so cold Gaius, ar-aren't y-ou f-f-freezing?" she asked.

He shook his head and could tell he wasn't kidding, he had no signs of a chill on him at all and she was beginning to feel concerned. He leaned around her and felt her face on her forehead and cheek, frowning as he tossed another log into the small flame in their fireplace. "I'll make you something warm to drink," he said quietly and heading over to her work space.

Quinn closed her eyes, she was so cold and tired, thinking of the night and the symbol in the tree. She was trying to recall it now, the small curves, it was oval with something inside of it. Maybe it could have been writing, but if that was true it wasn't in any language she'd learned at McKinley. As long as she kept her mind on the necklace she wasn't so focussed on the cold in her bones and her skin. The fire was helping though, but it might take actually sitting in the fire to warm her now.

She leaned forward, closer to the fire and felt the warmth starting to spread over her more and more. Her teeth stopped chattering and the muscles in her jaw were finally relaxed, her fingers reached out and the warm glow felt wonderful on her chilly fingers. She was smiling now and grinning, her eyes in wonder as the flames covered the tips of her fingers and hands.

"Quinn!" The voice was a sharp cry and she was thrown back suddenly and cried out. Merlin crouched by her sides and she was about to protest when her eyes widened suddenly at the sight of her sore red hands.

"Oh!" she exclaimed, before she cried out in pain, a hot searing pain through her hands that made her nearly cry. "What's happening? Why did I do that?"

The fire burnt softly in the background, though it was hardly as enchanting, it seemed to have lost something captivating her before. "Magic," Merlin murmured softly.

"Excuse me?"

"I could feel it on my way back, this pull, it was magic. It was strong too, if I'd been later you'd have probably jumped in." Merlin said.

"Why would there be a magical fire?" Quinn asked with a frown, staring at her red hands and wincing at the pain when she tried to move her fingers.

Merlin shrugged and Gaius came over, wrapping her hands in a cloth soaked with something sweet and sticky, it felt like the heat was being pulled out of her skin and soaking into the cloth.

Quinn frowned at the fire and clung to the cloth in her hands wondering what came over her. It didn't feel like anything was wrong, it was like wanting to lean forward to get a better view of the fireworks and getting too close and being hit instead. She gingerly removed the cloth and saw her hands were not so bad, still in pain and red, but not blistering like before.

"Merlin, I found something last night," she said suddenly, thinking it might explain the strange encounter with the fire, it might explain a lot of things. "It was carved into the tree, Arthur said it reminded him of his mothers necklace," she said.

Merlin frowned and looked at Gaius, "I never knew her, would you have known it Gaius?"

"Perhaps," he said, without much expression in his face, "What did it look like?" he asked.

Quinn looked down, "It's in my pocket, a picture of it, can you get it?" she asked, while Merlin carefully slid the paper out and unfolded it.

He held it up for Gaius to examine, who squinted and mulled it over. "I believe I have seen this before, a gift to the queen, on the day they announced an heir to Camelot."

"Who was this gift from?" Merlin asked.

"I can't recall it," Gaius said with a shake of his head. "She wore it everyday though, and placed it on her bed each night. I saw it there when I went to see her and give her some medicine for minor aches and pains that a pregnancy caused her."

"We need to find out who gave her that necklace," Quinn said, looking at Merlin and Gaius. "Maybe she wrote it down, or had a thank you card sent?" Merlin and Gaius stared at her and she sighed in frustration. "Well it was just a thought, maybe she kept a diary or something."

"We can't just go through the queens personal affects," Merlin said with a small laugh, though it fell short when Quinn glared at him. "Well we can't," he defended.

She sighed and gave in, there wasn't much she could do, except hope Arthur would know something or be able to find out more.

The rest of the afternoon she spent inside with her hands wrapped watching Gaius work and reading up on the ancient symbols, asking for the definitions of certain things and where they would find them. "Did you ever really have to go to the Mountains of Illyis to find one flower?"

"No," Gaius said, "The king sent his knights for that, though it was a handy flower to have. It cured 10 fevers and the stem was used for a delicious soup," he said, and they both laughed a little as she pictured the brave knights on their quest for flowers.

Merlin had been out the entire day with Arthur, who practiced with the knights and must have been exhausted because Merlin actually had a smile when he came back.

"Did you ask him about the necklace?" she asked.

"Well he wasn't exactly in a chatty mood, while swinging swords at me and hurling axes into things," Merlin said with a curious expression.

"Oh don't be a baby, you have a shield the whole time," Quinn said with a quirked brow and tiny smile on her face.

He rolled his eyes, "Easy for you to say, your not the target out there. How are your hands?" he asked, nodding in her direction while he popped a few grapes into his mouth and came to sit with her.

"Not so bad, I can wiggle my fingers now," she said, showing him excitedly as the redness was nearly gone. "Not sure if they'll ever stop smelling like whatever this is, and please don't tell me, I'm almost sure I don't want to know after reading this all day."

Merlin laughed and looked down at the page she was reading, "Do you ever hear of magic in your time?"

She shook her head a little, "Not really, except in stories mostly. There are people who say they have magic though but it's mostly smoke and mirrors. You know, pull a rabbit out of a hat or cut someone in two."

"You cut people in two?" he asked with shock.

"No, it's a trick, there two people and- never mind," she laughed. "But no, there's no magic, not real magic anyway. Well not until I ended up here, which I still can't figure out why. I keep feeling like if I had that necklace I could figure it out, how it ended up with me and why it sent me here. Or whoever has it now, why they brought me here. It has to mean something, right? It can't just be random, maybe I'm supposed to be here," she said thoughtfully.

Merlin smiled at her a little and she sighed, she really had no idea why she was there. Magic was sort of an idea, a concept in her world, something amusing but not real. Gaius changed the cloth on her hands and they were not nearly as bad, only red and a little sore but she would be fine. She ate very little and asked Merlin to tell Morgana she was ill and wouldn't be able to see her that night, to which she only asked Quinn meet with her another night when she was feeling better.

Gaius had gone to sleep already and Quinn and Merlin stayed awake chatting and playing a game called Rock, Paper, Scissors that Merlin just wasn't grasping. "How does paper beat rock? If I threw a rock at a piece of paper the rock would win."

"It's just supposed to cover the rock, not rip it," Quinn said laughing.

"What other games to do you know? Maybe ones with real rules," Merlin said half grinning, though she could tell he wasn't such a fan of the game as her.

"Well there's a lot of card games I know but I don't think you guys have any of those. Not the ones we need anyway."

There was a knock on the door before Arthur opened it, swinging under the doorway and looking disheveled, his hair ruffled and his cheeks red. He was fully dressed as a knight and his hand grasped the handle of his sword. "Quinn you need to come with me, you've got to go."

She looked up at him stunned, Merlin stood and frowned, "Where is she going?" he asked.

Arthur frowned, "Merlin I don't have time, grab what you need we've got to go before they come."

"Whose coming?" Quinn asked, full of fear now as she stood.

"The guards, you're to be arrested on order of the king."

"What for!" she yelled.

"Treason, now hurry, they'll be sending more guards soon," Arthur said.

Quinn didn't hesitate, she ran into the room and put on her warmest cloak and the necklace, drawing and a spell book she'd been reading. Gaius had come out of the room and she could see the three of them talking. What could she have been arrested for? She hadn't done anything wrong, she'd actually been helping more lately and staying out of everyones way. The only reason she could think he would want her arrested for would be...

"Gwen, it was Gwen, wasn't it? She told him I was lying?" Quinn said suddenly, her anger rising in her chest and her heart pounding loudly.

Arthur nodded angrily and seemed to grit his teeth a little, "Yes, it was Gwen," he said with a sigh.

"I'm coming with you," Merlin said, standing beside Arthur.

"Wait, your both going to come with me?" Quinn asked breathless.

"Yes," they said in unison.

Gaius looked gravely at her with the same serious expression he always wore, only a gentler side left in his eyes. "I'll tell them you've gone and that Arthur has left looking for you," he said, and she felt a pain in her chest when she realized what he was saying, goodbye.

Quickly she opened up her arms still clinging to the few things she owned and hugged him, "Thank you Gaius, for everything," she kissed his cheek and hoped she was wrong about the goodbye.

She would have felt more sadness in that moment if it wasn't for the fact that Arthur was pulling her along through the dark halls with Merlin trailing behind them both.

The halls were eerily quite now, normally a few servants would have been wandering around returning to their own homes or working. The three of them were all beating hearts and quick feet, moving silently through the halls and clinging to every shadow. Every sound of footsteps made her heart race a little more and she was thankful to be outside finally, even if there were more people out there.

"Merlin, go find horses in the stables, I've had them waiting for us. We'll meet you at the shed by the forest, and please don't get lost," Arthur said, which caused Merlin to roll his eyes.

Quinn and Arthur crept behind a stack of hay sitting out by the side of the castle, stacks bundled up on top of each other and reminding her of the smell of Camelot again. She looked at Arthur, full of seriousness and vigilance as he checked for any sign of someone approaching and she couldn't stand it. "Arthur, don't do this, don't run away," she said in a hushed voice.

"It's fine Quinn, just keep quite," he said back.

"No, I'm serious, I can't let you and Merlin do this for me," she said.

He looked back at her and his eyes are what got to her, the big round blue ones that said it all. She reached her hand out and brushed his cheek gently, "I can't watch them kill you Quinn," he said.

She blinked and took a deep breath, "Then don't, talk to him, he's your father. We can explain everything to him and make him see that it's not our fault. I'll apologize for lying and Morgana will defend me too."

He shook his head slowly, "He won't see it that way," he said, placing his hand over hers on his cheek and turning in towards her palm. "He won't listen to me."

"Then make him listen, Arthur! You have no idea what you're capable of, I can see it in you, the greatness there. I believe in you," she said. "You can't run away, you're a prince, Prince Arthur, and you can't run away. We'll figure out another way somehow," she told him.

It was almost painful the way things unfolded, it was like he knew before her what they needed to do, like he was betraying a huge part of himself to run away with her. But he was willing and she knew that she couldn't let him do it. Even if this world didn't make sense to her she knew that he was meant to be King one day and that could never happen if he left.

The next few hours were a blur. Arthur brought Merlin back and they walked her to the Kings throne, telling guards not to bind her until she spoke with the king. And though Quinn thought she might have a chance to explain herself the king's mind was already made up before she could even speak.

"A liar, deceiving your king and deceiving Camelot. To impersonate the child of a knight is a vile crime and you will be punished for it. Take her!"

Quinn was arrested and guards bound her arms behind her back and she wanted to cry, but wouldn't give Uther the satisfaction. They brought her to the prison which was every bit as awful as she imagined it to be. Cold and dark without a warm fire or single blanket to keep her warm. She had made sure to give Merlin her belongings and told him the necklace was with them and to keep it safe and hidden, as it might be the only clue they had.

This was not her world, this was not any world she would ever be able to imagine. If this was all a dream she was ready to wake up and be done with the world of Camelot and go back to her normal life. Anything seemed better in comparison to medieval prison.

When she heard the guards she braced herself again in case they decided to yell at her again, but she smiled and cried when she saw Merlin coming down. "Merlin!" she called, putting her hands against the cold steel bars, "Did Arthur talk to him, is he going to let me out?" she asked.

Merlin shook his head, "He's not listening to Arthur, he's not listening to anyone. I couldn't even find Gwen and ask her why she's done this. I'm so sorry Quinn, I don't know what's going to happen, but I won't let them hurt you," he said, grasping onto her hand.

Quinn couldn't speak, her mouth felt dry and her whole body hurt. Why was something always trying to kill her? Sure, she'd made some enemies, but death? "I don't know why she did it, why Gwen hates me so much," she said, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was crying. It was the most appropriate time to cry and feel sorry for herself anyway.

"I don't know Quinn, but it'll be okay. Look, I can't stay long, but Arthur wanted me to tell you something. He told me he is going to keep his promise, no matter what. Alright?" he said.

She nodded and felt the slightest bit better. She knew that no matter what happened she would not die, not because of Uther or some strange magic that brought her here, not because of Gwen plotting against her or anything of the sort. She knew that with Arthur, Merlin and even Gaius working to protect her they would find a way.

"The necklace," she said, her voice bursting suddenly as the guards came in. "We've got to figure out who gave her the necklace!" she called as Merlin was being hustled out.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: this might be a long note and i am sorry for that! firstly i would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone reading this, it means so much to me to know that people are enjoying it and enjoy this crossover (so i'm not insane you say? heh heh!) secondly the reason for my failure to update in a while has been a number of things, in october i had a surgery that pretty much left me unable to do much for weeks and was a long recovery process. i've been working on this though (it's got thousands and thousands of words more to it that i haven't updated yet). this particular chapter has been written FIVE TIMES! each one longer than the last, i wanted it to be good and when i realized i could never end it the way i had i decided to keep going, with hopefully more frequent updates. also! i love all my reviews, i truly truly do it's awesome! but one person in particular has made my whole year by her amazing reviews, and that would be caitlin! i meant to thank you so much longer ago but i couldn't do it until now so i hope you are still reading because i dedicate this chapter to you 3 well, that was long! but without further delay, chapter 10!

The cell was a dark and foreign place to her, she hesitated to move too far and paced the cell, worried and stealing glances out her small barred window. The only fresh air curled in and chilled her, but she felt an unease in the air. It was her last night being alive though, that would make anyone feel nervous. Still it nipped at her and she tried to breath into her hands as she sat back down and leaned her back against the wall. She closed her eyes and thought of all she hadn't had a chance to do yet, to say goodbye, to think of her life before Camelot.

As the minutes dragged on she heard a noise of metal clanking and stood, pressing herself against the gate caging her and saw the leg of a guard laying there, had he really fallen asleep? Not a moment later a face turned the corner and she smiled brightly, feeling relief, "Arthur!" she said quietly, reaching her hand out and he grabbed onto hers.

He smiled at her, although it was brief they were a matching pair for a moment, the relief in both their eyes as Merlin came around the corner with a set of keys in his hand and jogged over to the doors, unlocking them and Arthur went inside first, wrapping his arms around her waist tightly and she lay her cheek against the suit of armor he wore to come find her. He brought a hand behind her and held the back of her neck and kissed the top of her head.

Neither of them could speak as they pulled apart from each other, Merlin looked out the halls and seemed skittish as he waved them closer, "We need to leave, I think he's starting to wake up," he whispered.

Quinn took Arthur's hand and began to run in the opposite direction while Merlin followed behind them, they all looked back surreptitiously making sure no one was following them and taking momentary breaks between halls to listen for footsteps. No one spoke, their hearts all racing and beating faster than ever as they finally made it outside of the basement and into the night air.

She'd never been so relieved to be outdoors and only now fully realized how afraid she had been to be in there. "Why did you come?" she asked them both, looking between them.

"I tried but he wouldn't listen to me, he was going to have you executed in the morning, if I didn't come for you now it would be too late," Arthur said.

She nodded and felt her throat tighten. "You two should leave now, while they haven't realized I'm gone yet, go back and-"

Arthur reached out for her hand, holding onto it and clinging to her tightly, looking down at her, "No, I'm not leaving you," he said solemnly.

"And I'm not going either, Quinn, it's our fault you're here and we aren't going to let you die for that," Merlin said, with a small smile and she could only feel grateful for them both then.

"Okay," she said, taking a deep breath, "What do we need to do?"

A half mile away there were 3 horses waiting for them being watched by someone, when they approached she almost felt sick with surprise seeing Gwen handing the reigns to them. Gwen noticed though, an apologetic look flooded her face as she handed Quinn the horse, "I'm so, so sorry for this Quinn, Arthur explained everything too me and... I would never have told Uther if I had known," she said speaking quietly.

Arthur and Merlin were within earshot but dutifully pretending not to notice the conversation taking place. Quinn pursed her lips together for a moment, wanting the anger to come back to her, to remember why she hated Gwen and that she was responsible for them having to leave. But she couldn't, because after all it wasn't Gwen's fault she was here. Before Quinn had arrived this had been her world that she had known better than anything and she was in love with Arthur too, people are willing to do almost anything for love. "It's alright Gwen, I understand why you did it," Quinn said quietly.

Gwen looked up and braved a smile, mouthing the word 'thank you' and Quinn nodded a little, stepping to the side and petting the side of her horse. "We'll need to go deep into the woods, as far west as possible before the guards come search for us." Arthur said, gliding onto his horse and turning him the other direction. Merlin quickly got up as well and Gwen helped to lift Quinn on and adjusted the straps for her.

"I'll hide the trails you leave for as long as I can," Gwen said to Arthur, who nodded at her for a moment.

There was a long bellow from the castle and all of them looked back as flames came to life and the noise grew, "Well now we've really got to go," Merlin said, as they all turned their horses away. Quinn began to move forward and pulled back to make her horse stop, Arthur couldn't turn his head away from the castle and hadn't moved yet.

"You can still stay Arthur, this is your home, you should be here, you should stay," Quinn said to him softly.

Arthur finally did look away though, but he looked straight at Quinn like there was nothing else around him, "No, I'm staying with you, you are where I belong now," he said.

Quinn smiled and nodded in understanding, how could she not? She felt the same way.

Camelot had grown on her these past weeks but it was somewhere else that felt like a new home, and she rode along beside him now.

With the sounds drifting off behind them they rode as fast as they could, having to slow down every now and then to wait for her. She was getting better at riding but still not nearly half as comfortable as Arthur or Merlin, she didn't know these woods and if she fell to far behind she couldn't see where she needed to go. They'd gone on for miles and began to slow down, they had a few hours until sunrise at least and if Gwen had done as she said she would it would give them at least a day before they'd find their trails.

Still though, they were all afraid, this was not just another prisoner escaping that might have been able to be written off after a few days of searching. The prince was with them and that would only bring trouble. The king might suspect her of tricking him into coming with her or be even more vengeful that he'd left, if she was ever found she knew the consequences for them all would be great.

Her hands shook in the cold and she kept her head bent low against the growling winds nipping at her face, they'd slowed enough that she was no longer struggling to keep up with them both as they plotted their path carefully. Arthur knew these woods best and sometimes led them in circles or through streams to help disguise their path carefully. He made them each check that their things were secure to leave no trace of them behind, a fallen piece of cloth or piece of food could be enough to set them on their trails again.

It was a terrifying rush to be on the run, not from the police but guards, real guards with swords that likely wouldn't hesitate too much about killing her off if the king could convince himself she was enough of a threat. She knew full and well how suspicious he was of magic, would he think she'd bewitched them into leave with her? The most magic she knew was how to make a coin vanish, and even that wasn't real. You just slid the coin down your sleeve and it was really only believable to small children.

The sun peaked over the skyline and the western mountains, reaching through the brambles of tree's and lighting the way that she was no longer in need of being extra vigilant about every branch or stone that might hurt her horse. They were no longer blind and in need of each other to survive and she thought what a beautiful horse she must have had as she gently pet his mane.

Nothing seemed so bad in the light of day, night could bring out terrors but now she saw things weren't so awful, they'd managed to escape after all. If they hadn't come for her she could very well have been dead right now when the sun rose.

It was a night and day of riding, breaking to feed the horses and themselves only a few times, by sunset they were all exhausted and in need of rest. "We should make a fire for tonight," Merlin said looking around, "It's dangerous to be without one here."

"Why is it dangerous, are there people around?" Quinn asked.

"No, it's not the people we need to be worried about- it's the animals," Arthur said.

She looked around at the silent woods, a few birds but nothing more, silent and still. She sensed that neither of them really felt like talking too much about whatever it was that could possibly be out there that was more threatening than the guards out looking for them and Uther's wrath. She led her horse next to Arthurs and tied him against a tree, reaching into her bag and grabbing some of the food that was being kept just for the horses. He hungrily ate it from her hands and she brought out two more to feed the other horses, petting them all and trying to remember a time she didn't need a horse to go somewhere.

They started the fire and Arthur took off some of the heavy armour and rested for a while, closing his eyes as Quinn and Merlin sat by warming themselves up. "Do you want to try and make something to eat, I'm not really an expert at cooking in the wild but we could probably try to figure it out," she said with a small smile.

"Ah, luckily for you all I am," Merlin said laughing, he stood and went back to their things with the horses, leaving her and Arthur alone.

Quinn hugged her knee's closer to herself and laid her head to her lap, turning towards Arthur and seeing the troubling look on his face. "What's wrong?" she asked, with already some idea of what was wrong with him, with this entire situation that was entirely her fault.

Arthur shook his head slowly, "Nothing, everything is fine," he said a little gruffly.

Quinn relaxed her shoulders a bit and stood, taking a couple steps towards him and sitting beside him, resting her head against his shoulder and placing an arm assuringly across his chest. "I know this has to be hard for you Arthur, leaving your home like that. I just want you to know that I- that I appreciate it. What you and Merlin are doing for me. I promise that we'll figure out a way to fix this and show your father the truth so you can go back," she said.

He raised his arm around hers and pulled her closer to him, kissing her cheek and smiling a little looking down at her. "Yes, we will. But it's not your fault Quinn, it's... it's mine," he said.

"No Arthur, it's not your fault, none of us know why this happened it just-"

"No, Quinn, it's not. It's my fault," he said, looking down and shaking his head a little.

Quinn turned to look at him, searching his eyes for a moment, "What do you mean?" she asked hesitantly.

"I brought you here," he said.

Quinn looked at him, he didn't look like he was trying to make her feel better by taking the blame for this, not like she was hoping he'd look. He looked pained and torn as he watched her reaction. "I don't understand, how did you bring me here?"

"Quinn, I'm so sorry," he said with a shake of his head. "I didn't know what it would do, when I found that necklace I should have just put it away but I couldn't."

She broke apart from him and wrapped her arms around herself, furrowing her brow and trying to make sense of what he was saying. "So you used a spell to bring me here? But you didn't even know me..." she said.

"There was a spell already on it, when I found it belonged to my mother I heard her voice, telling me to use it. That the person who was wearing it would be my destiny."

Quinn bit her lip, she reached out and grabbed Arthur's hand, holding it gently against her own and feeling the slight race in his pulse and the warmth of his hand. She closed her eyes and thought of the time she'd spent here, in Camelot. Meeting Merlin and Arthur in the woods and being brought back, Gaius stepping into her life and becoming like a dear friend, falling in love in Camelot. It did feel right, it wasn't what she was used to but she felt at home here more than any other place. "Maybe it was Arthur, maybe I was meant to be here with you."

Arthur reached over and brushed her cheek gently with the tips of his fingers, she leaned forward and closed her eyes as he bent his head to the side and brushed his lips against hers. It felt sweet and dizzying and she gripped onto his wrist and drew him in closer, parting her lips and welcoming him to her. His mouth was sweet and warm and feeling his lips brushing against hers seemed so easy and natural. Arthur felt wonderful and passionate as he slide his tounge along her lips and Quinn smiled as she returned the welcome advance. They turned slightly and their noses brushed against each others and she smiled and felt amazingly warm and calm as she kissed him, his hands brushing through her hair and only the sound of their quicks breaths breaking the air.

The was, of course, until Merlin quietly cleared his throat, causing them to both break apart and Quinn smiled and blushed while Arthur stifled a groan. "What is it, Merlin?" he asked with his usual annoyance.

"I just thought the two of you might like to know dinner's ready, but I can come back if you need a moment," he said, trying not to laugh.

"No it's fine, we're ready!" Quinn said, getting up quickly and shaking her head a bit as she laughed walking past Merlin, "He's going to be mad at you," she said quietly.

"I can handle it," Merlin laughed.

The three of them filled their bowls with some warm stew while more was heating just over the fire. They sat around in the circle and ate it, the first warm meal they'd had in two days and could hear only the stillness of the woods and chirping of the birds, with the horses occasionally snapping a twig and rustling fallen leaves on the ground. "This is very good, Merlin," Quinn said, poking at her stew.

"Camelot's finest preserves," he said laughing.

Arthur ate quickly and set his bowl aside, standing up and attaching his belt and sword back around his waist. "I need to go find some more wood before this fire dies out, we'll take turns tonight sleep and leave first thing in the morning."

He turned and left into the woods, Quinn watched him slip away until she could no longer distinguish his shadow from the rest of the dark woods. It made her uneasy, him being so far away, but she knew he'd be able to look after for himself out there.

Merlin watched the fire and Quinn picked up a nearby stick and began to scratch at the dirt, drawing circles and lines, wondering if Merlin would know how to play tic tac toe or if that hadn't been invented yet. She poked the fire a few times until a log rolled away, still on fire and towards her feet, causing Merlin to jump up and step on it a few times until it went out.

"So sorry!" she said laughing.

"Yes, well, I'm going to remember that," Merlin laughed.

"Oh you know I didn't mean it, I'm not really used to this camping thing you know," she said.

Merlin smiled, "Well most first time campers don't nearly set things on fire, a princess might though."

"Oh no," Quinn groaned, "He's not still calling me that, is he? I thought I've proved by now I'm not a princess."

"You have, but he still calls you it, actually I don't think he means it in such a bad way anymore," Merlin said, catching her eye for a moment.

Quinn thought about that for a moment and smiled down at her lap, blushing slightly. "Well if that's the case then, but I still think the idea of me ever becoming a princess is about as likely as... pigs flying."

"Well I could make that happen, if I wanted to," Merlin laughed as Quinn rolled he eyes.

He sat back down and turned some of the wood around to get it to burn more and Quinn felt comfortable and relaxed just watching the fire there. "Merlin, what's it like to have magic and live in Camelot? To have to keep it a secret all the time..." she said looking over at him.

"It's not easy," Merlin said, a little more seriously. "It's quite difficult, actually. But it won't always be this way, when Arthur becomes king I believe he'll change things for those of us with magic," he said, with all the confidence in the world.

"If he becomes king," Quinn said, looking back to the woods where she'd last seen Arthur go. "What if I've ruined it for him? What if he can't go back and become the king he's supposed to, because- because of me?" she said, feeling guilt-ridden and looking to her lap.

She was no longer the old Quinn Fabrary, she couldn't pretend she was a normal teenager or a cheerleader or any of the things she was in the past. That life seemed distant and this was all she knew, and she'd already done such a bad job of it and hurt so many people. Because of her Arthur might never become king, Merlin might never get the world he planned, she couldn't stand the guilt it was causing.

"That isn't going to happen, Quinn, we'll figure out a way to go back once we know what's happened, everything will be fine," Merlin said.

She smiled appreciatively and looked towards the ground, throwing her stick into the fire and watching it get swallowed up by the flames.

She heard the footsteps coming from the woods and turned with a smile as she saw Arthur return, arms full of wood and setting them down on the ground near the fire. "You two should sleep first," Quinn said, "I'll stay up for the first shift."

"No you should sleep Quinn," Arthur said, sitting beside her.

"You guys have done a lot more, I promise if I hear anything I'll wake you up, okay?" she asked, seeing Arthurs heavy eyelids as he nodded and Merlin looked much the same. "It'll be fine, relax, I won't set us on fire," she laughed.

They got ready, Arthur and Merlin rolled out their beds near the fire to keep warm and Arthur handed Quinn small blade and large stick to keep nearby, just in case. "I promise it'll be okay, just sleep," she said, and instead of listening to another protest she kissed him softly on the lips. Arthur grinned as she pulled away and lay down on his bed, him and Merlin looked so much more peaceful when they weren't wide awake bickering with each other.

Quinn stoked the fire and carefully added more wood, afraid it would go out if she kept it too small. They needed enough fire to be warm and keep any animals from coming to close, but too much smoke could tip someone off that they were there, a very tricky balance.

As the fire burned and crackled away she yawned, rubbing her eyes and counting stones around the fire to keep herself from falling asleep. The wind had died down a lot but she heard it whistle once through the air, then again and another time, a slow chime through the air that didn't seem like much at first. But she heard it again and again and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and she got a chill through her spine the more she listened. It sounded less like the howl of the wind and more of an actual howl, growing louder.

Her heart raced and she no longer strained to hear it, the sound grew louder and... was it closer? What was making that noise was growing closer to her by the second, she reached out and found the stick Arthur had offered her, she stuck it into the fire and it lit up and she stood, holding it out into the blinding night and waiting, barely breathing and waiting for the next howl.

It growled behind her.


	11. Chapter 11

Her hands trembled as she held the torch, a shadow cast in it's light of a bewildering shape moving in slowly towards her. It was hunched over and making it's way closer. The longer she looked the more clear the beast became. Red eyes bored into her and a giant mouth snarled revealing a row of sharp angry teeth.

She opened her mouth but it was completely dry and decided against calling for help or making any sudden noise. It might make the thing lunge for her or decided to attack. So she stood perfectly still barely able to breath while she waited for whatever might happen next.

It looked part wolf and part beast, larger than any wolf she'd seen in picture before, twice her size and with muscles ripping along it's body. It must have had a row of 100 teeth that she could see, pulled back in a grimace towards her. It growled deep in the back of the throat and Quinn braced herself for whatever may come next.

Steeling herself she closed her eyes and waited, she didn't want to look as the thing tore into her and after a moment her impatience grew, her right eye fluttered open and she looked to see another figure moving in through the woods. With both eyes open she could see a cloaked figure emerge and she moved the light to see a better view. "Do not be afraid Quinn Fabray, my pet here is very protective," a soothing voice said.

"I'd be less frightened if you could make him stop growling at me," Quinn said hesitantly.

The figured woman moved her hand out by her side and the beast, The beast stopped growing and took a small step back, though it never took it's eyes off her.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I am Dareth, keeper of these worlds, and you are the one who has caused a disturbance on these lands," she said.

Quinn stared at her, a pale and expressionless face as she watched her, the red eyes of the beast never leaving her. "I don't understand. What have I done to anyone?" she asked, "I've only been looking for a way home..."

"I know everything that has taken place, for I am the one that brought you here," she said calmly, lowering her hood. Quinn could see that the woman was quite beautiful, with dark black hair that seemed unruly and curled. She had soft features but faint lines over her skin, her face neck and arms all had these marks.

"Why did you bring me here?" Quinn asked, beginning to step forward. Her movement was met with a large growl from the beast again and she stop suddenly and felt the fear again like a thick coat wash over her.

The woman made a shh sound and her pet relaxed, never taking his large red eyes off her. "Because you are the one needed to complete the prophecy. The image of the necklace you wore is the same marking of the old religion, the same marking I wear and one day the same scar you will carry."

Quinn tried to understand but it was making very little sense, nothing was making sense anymore. She blinked as she processed the information and made a small o with her mouth, nodding once to let the woman know to carry on.

"You will bring Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon and future king of Camelot to the Isle of the Blessed. You will bring him there and that is where you will kill him," she said, in the same calm tone.

At first Quinn didn't know what to do, she thought this was a joke, but there was no humor and with an upset twist in her stomach she realized this woman was serious. "I refuse."

"This is not a matter of will or will not, you must," she said.

"I will not kill Arthur, and I will die before I let you harm him."

The woman smiled, not in a malicious way but almost as if she were expecting this answer, of course she had been expecting it, how could she ask someone to kill the prince? "It is fate."

"Fate is wrong then," Quinn said.

"The Isle of the Blessed was once a kingdom for those who celebrated the old religion. It's wall were covered in magic and a sanctuary for those of us who used magic. It became a tomb for many and only the blood of a Pendragon will restore it."

Quinn shook her head, she didn't want to listen to any more of this, "I won't do it, I will never do it."

"You will."

"Why do you keep saying that? I have a choice in the matter, I love Arthur, I will never hurt him," Quinn said with her voice wavering as she tried not to yell.

"In your blood there is the traces of the old religion, if you had not worn that necklace you may have never been summoned, but when you put it on the magic began. It was fate, and fate that you would do this. Now close your eyes because you are about to see exactly what fate has led to."

Quinn didn't feel in a position to argue, and with a final glance to make sure the beast would not be coming towards her she looked at the woman who held out her hand with a faint glow beginning to spread and she shut her eyes.

There was a tall castle, surrounded by blue sea and bright skies. The castle walls were bright and clean and there was magic in the air. It coated the sea and the stars and inside this castle the walls were dazzling and the roof reached far with glimmering lights all around. But it wasn't the beauty of the castle or the land and sea around the place, it was the people.

They looked different with the same markings on their skin but their faces were lit up with joy. This was a place of magic where it was celebrated in peace. Nothing felt wrong here, simply life and peace.

It made her smile and feel a warmth inside her heart, an odd feeling, like watching a memory.

But it soon turned dark.

The walls went black and the soul of the castle fled.

Blood and horror filled the walls as there was a raid, no one was spared and the screaming left her hollow and dark. Fear replaced the laughter and joy and the massacre would not end until every trace of magic seemed gone from the place.

When the images stopped Quinn fell onto the ground with tears streaming along her cheeks. "Why would you show me that?" she asked, choking down a sob.

"It is a memory Quinn, a memory generations old that carries on in you, the real memory is much worse. You had to see for yourself, you had to see why it is important to do this. Because when you kill Arthur there will be vengeance for those souls lost and the Isle of the Blessed will be returned to all of it's former glory."

Quinn tried to control her tears, but the memories of the lost lives and the screaming and fear did not leave because the visions stopped. She shook her head, what she had seen was so wrong, so terrible, but she could not do this. She could not kill Arthur. "Why does it have to be Arthur, he didn't do that, he doesn't deserve to die."

"It is the only way."

She shook her head and leaned forward, placing her heads in front of her and bending her head low, smelling the earth and dirt and damp grass. Her tears fell and she breathed deeply, trembling. How had she not known what had happened to those who practiced magic?

"The only way to make it right is to kill Arthur?" Quinn asked, looking up.

"Yes," the woman said. She moved part of her cloak aside and the glint of metal appeared, she removed a dagger and held the blade up, it glowed and there a was large oval blue jewel centered in the handle. Quinn watched as the dagger drifted towards her slowly and she reached out for it, wrapping her fingers around the handle and touching the blade carefully, it felt cold and hard, she took a deep breath of air.

"What happens, if he dies, I want to know what happens."

"They will come back, things will never be what they once were, but they will be better. And you will return home. If you do not there is another that will take your place here."

Quinn looked up and furrowed her brow, "Who?" she asked.

"Your daughter."

"No!" Quinn yelled, standing up and glaring at the woman. "No, she doesn't have any part in this."

"It will never come to that if you follow fates design," the woman said.

Quinn glared and as she was about to speak again the beast moved in front of her, lowering it's head and she wasn't afraid to stare into those red eyes anymore. She was being driven by a fear much worse than her own possible death. "Move," she said in a low, quite voice, and the beast stepped by his masters side.

"Bring his to the Isle, do as fate compels you and return to your world, Quinn Fabray."

The woman turned and left, but she seemed to fall through the shadows and disappear as the beast left in her trail.

Quinn unsteadily made her way back and she slipped the dagger into her own robes and it felt cold against her side, a reminder. "Arthur, wake up," she said, shaking him gently. He turned his head the other way and she impatient shook him, "Arthur!"

He opened his eyes and yawned, "I need to sleep," she said.

"Wake Merlin up first, it's his turn next," Arthur said, holding her hand, "Sleep next to me," he said with a small sleepy grin.

"No Merlin was up half the night watching with me, you've been the only one to sleep," she said with growing impatience, something Arthur picked up on this time.

He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes, "Oh, alright," he paused and looked sideways at her. "Have I done something wrong?" he asked, "Talked too much in my sleep and gotten myself in trouble?" he asked with a small chuckle.

Quinn ignored him and when he got up she slept in the spot he was just in, the warm blankets even smelt like him, she turned her head away as she heard Arthur stifle a yawn and she bent her head into the blankets and felt her eyes begin to well with tears again.

She was too exhausted to fight anymore, too tired to go on thinking and letting those thoughts and the screams continue in her mind. She closed her eyes and heard Arthur moving around, watching them, protecting them. She fell asleep knowing that if anyone came to hurt her he would throw his life out to protect her, and pressed against her side was the dagger she was told she had to kill him with.

When morning came she was the last one awake and wanted to close her eyes immediately, but the time came to face the day and she knew there was no other options.

Forcing herself to stand she smiled a little as Merlin handed her a cup of something warm for breakfast. "What is it?" she asked with a little laugh.

"Don't worry it's just porridge," he said laughing.

They ate in silence while Quinn sat beside Merlin and Arthur frowned, she saw Merlin shrug and look uncomfortable but she couldn't sit beside him. She couldn't force herself to be anywhere near him as she weighed the options.

"Merlin, I need to speak with you," she whispered quietly to him.

"About what?" he asked looking at her.

"About... magic," she said even more quietly.

Merlin swallowed the bit of food and frowned in confusion. He placed a smile on his face and looked over to Arthur. "Well you should probably hurry on to have a bath then Arthur."

"I don't need a bath, Merlin, I'm fine," Arthur said.

"Oh my nose would have to disagree." Merlin said with a smile.

"Merlin," Arthur said with a grumble.

"Come on sire, the stream isn't far and a quick wash up won't be that bad, we could be going on for days and days."

Poor Arthur, he seemed almost embarrassed as he stood, thrusting his bowl into Merlin's hands and removing some of his plates of armor to go bath. "I'll be uh, back?" he said turning away and Quinn tried to smile for him to ease his uncomfort.

"He'll hate me for that," Merlin said unhappily.

"Well I'm sorry, but I need to know what happened here. I need to know about magic and why it's illegal, I need you to tell me," Quinn said.

They spoke for nearly 20 minutes, and Quinn couldn't help but shudder at the mention of the genocide of those who practiced magic. The secrecy surrounding those who still practiced and how wanted they were by Uther.

"What about the Isle of the Blessed, what happened there?" she asked. As much as it pained her Merlin told her nothing different than what she had already seen, it was the truth. Which would mean she hadn't been lied to.

"Quinn, why are you asking about all of this?" Merlin asked.

She sighed and looked down at the ground, "If you had the chance to make things right again after what happened to all those people, would you?"

"Of course," Merlin said without hesitation. "But we can't undo the past, and Arthur will be a great king and make things right one day."

"Do you really, really believe that?" she asked.

"Yes, I do."

She nodded and they sat in silence for a moment before Arthur came back with damp hair and in new clothing, he glanced at the two of them sitting there and shook his head as he put his clothes aside.

Quinn stood and walked next to him, placing her arms gently around Arthur's waist and resting her forehead against his shoulder. He turned his head back and smiled at her, "Everything alright?" he asked, turning around and he wrapped his arms around her back and held her close against him.

She nodded and tried to push the images from last night out of her mind. He brushed a piece of her hair away from her face and kissed the top of her head, "What's wrong Quinn?" he asked, full of a concern for her that she seldom saw him show. She supposed it must have been very hard, to be raised knowing you would one day be king, to be responsible for Camelot and all the people, to never be able to show a moment of weakness for fear of your enemies.

Quinn just couldn't bring herself to do it, she couldn't betray him. "I need to tell you something Arthur," she said quietly, fearing what might come out of her now, "And I will, but we need to do something first and I need you to trust me the way I trust you."

"What is it?"

"We need to go to the Isle of the Blessed," Quinn said.


	12. Chapter 12

Court erupted, Uther stood with his hands in fists as his cloaked and armored men flanked to his side. His face wore a mixture of anger and fear as he spoke, "Where is my son!"

Merlin bent his head low, averting his eyes from all those around him, "He... he's gone," he said.

Whispers flew around the room and Uther searched the room, looking into the faces around him and back at the servant, "Were you with him?" he asked.

Merlin nodded his head, "Yes, I- I was."

"Then tell me boy! Before I have you arrested too, what happened to my son?"

Merlin stayed quiet, refusing to look up.

Guards seized him quickly by the kings command. Gaius flinched as they dragged Merlin away and two other guards stepped forward.

"You will search every inch of woods for my son, talk to each person you see for sight of him. Do what you must, I don't care the cost or consequence, I want him found!" he shouted.

The guards all nodded and left the room hurriedly. Morgana rest a hand on the kings shoulder which he gratefully took, "I'm sure he'll be fine," she told him quietly quietly.

The water was cool and calm against her back, floating on endlessly into the lake, a blanket of stars across the sky. Each time she lifted her head from the water she would hear the unearthly howls of the dead crying for vengeance, for the blood of a Pendragon to make amends. She didn't not dare to listen any longer.

Somewhere in that castle she was sure Arthur was dead. Her love was dead and she would not bear the sound of his voice screaming at her from beyond.

Closing her eyes Quinn tried to keep herself breathing instead of sobbing, but the darkness was pulling her again away from the water and the stars, letting the sounds of the screaming come back to her.

Then it changed. Something was different and so terribly wrong, she could hear it hum softly in the distance. It grew louder and she knew these were not the screams of the undead, but Arthur himself.

When she could at last distinguish his voice from the others she gasped and opened her eyes in the darkness. There was a flash above the water and Quinn felt the dark hands pulling her under with a strong force. Ghostly hands that came from the shadows pulled her deeper until the stars blurred and she kept sinking.

Screaming voices, howling at her angrily that they wanted their revenge.

The only thing worse was the sound of Arthur, the kind of pain that he must have been in to make a noise like that.

It startled her terribly and she struggled viciously against the hands. There were so many and slipped through her fingers when she tried to pull them away. She wanted to fight to change what she had done and save him now.

A light plummeted through the water, it's bright light drove the hands away from her. Light wrapped around her body and she floated up from the water and swam, feeling herself get pulled along to the shore and freeing her. "Arthur!" Quinn cried, gasping for air, "Arthur!" she called out again to him.

The light began to fade and as it did she saw a woman, in a long gown and silver bright hair appear. The light came from a necklace she wore around her neck, when she saw it clearly she recognized the design. "That necklace, I've seen it before- you, you brought me here? Didn't you?" Quinn asked in a raspy voice.

The silver haired woman nodded, her face calm. She took the necklace off and held it out to place in Quinn's palm. When she took the necklace she touched it carefully.

"I don't understand, what is happening? Who are you?" Quinn asked desperately.

"I have had many names through the years, but they call me Celeste, young one," the woman said. Her voice was so serene and calm, amidst the screams Quinn had heard it almost put her at ease.

Quinn staggered as she realized the tortured voices had fallen silent as she listened to this woman. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked near tears.

"To save the future king and to bring peace," she replied.

"Then please help me save him, if he can be. I can hear him screaming, he's being killed!," she cried.

"The future king lives, he lives and waits for you," Celeste said gently.

"He waits for me? But, but I brought him here!" Quinn yelled. "He knew what had happened, I told him on the way over and he made me stay, he wouldn't let me go in there. Once he went in I saw them grab him and I couldn't get inside, they were keeping me out and I watched them take him!" Quinn said with a hollow feeling in her chest, the haunting of the screams still raw in her mind.

"There are two forms of magic in this world, a magic born from love and magic born of hate. Those who use hate can only destroy and harm, nothing good comes of their selfishness. But love is the strongest magic of all, it heals and mends all wrong. All of us can carry magic with us, used for good any man may have it. When Arthur chose to save you instead of letting you walk into that castle that was an act of love. It is the same feeling you hold in your heart for him, that will allow you to walk into there and save him," she said.

Quinn felt dizzy, but her hands touched the necklace and felt the power inside of it, "But I tried to walk in before, and it wouldn't let me" she said with confusion, feeling dread that he would indeed be lost to her.

"This will allow you to," Celeste said, touching the necklace, "This and love. Do not doubt it, and you will keep him safe and lead him from here. Your love will save him and turn him into the king he will become. A king meant to save the world."

Quinn Fabray was no hero, most of the time she didn't even feel like a good person. But she did know about sacrifice for the ones you loved.

She turned to the castle and moved as fast as her body would allow, still damp from the lake and dripping with water. Each heavy step gave her time to think and feel the first real fear at thinking of what she might find inside of that castle.

At the steps to the castle the screams returned and chilled her more than anything the cold could have done to her then. She steeled herself, a queen made a stone with love made of light to armor her.

Where there once stood a grand castle were now ruble and stones around it, a broken throne with Arthur bent before it on his knees. Supernatural forces held apart his arms and the angry spirits were dark and haunting as the swirled around him. They seemed to have human forms and shapes, though they moved like spirits and would push through him. They seemed to hurt him even with their sounds.

"ARTHUR!" Quinn screamed loudly to be sure that she was heard over their howls.

He raised his head sharply, jaw locked tight and so tired looking, but hope in his eyes.

Quinn began to run, tearing through and holding the necklace before her, trying to force every thought of love she held for Arthur into it to keep them safe.

Once she reached him she fell onto her knees beside him and watched his body go slack as she took him in her arms, kissing his head and tears falling from her eyes, "I'm so sorry I let you do this Arthur, I'm so sorry."

He held onto her waist, trying to speak but only able to give his head a small shake as his eyes started to droop and his knees gave way. Quinn held onto him with her one arm and used the necklace to ward off anything coming too close to them, letting his knees touch the ground.

She moved quickly to wrap one of his arms over her shoulder and tried to stand, he was so heavy under all of his armor that it made it harder, but she managed to hold him up as his consciousness waned in and out. "I'm going to keep you safe," she whispered.

After moving a step forward she felt the cold chill again in her spine, seeing a figure move in towards her. It was the same figure she'd seen the night before in the woods, the crocked old woman with a menacing look. "I will not let you keep him, Dareth!" she yelled, as bravely as she could.

"He is not yours to keep, he chose to enter here and he will die here," the woman said, spirits howling around her.

Quinn hung to him more closely, her other hand held out the light, "You can't have him! I won't let you take him from me, I won't let him be tortured any more."

"There is a debt that must be paid-"

"He's paid it! I heard him screaming, he has paid for it. If you wanted his death you could have had it but you wanted to torture him and you can't anymore! Now let me pass!" she yelled, feeling bolder with every second.

Arthur stirred beside her, bearing more of his weight as Quinn tried with all her strength to get them out where they could not take them. Every word spoken, every glance between them, every story shared and moment of irritation or amazement with the other. She thought of all the things that made her love him and hoped it would be enough to keep him safe.

They were so close to freedom when the spirits swarmed them again, Quinn felt it more sharply than ever. The exact sort of pain one might feel during the impact of a car crash, or when thrown off a building, it only hurt worse because it was done deeper inside. It was the kind of pain you felt in your soul. She cried out and fell to the floor, Arthur toppling along after her and beside her, both of them seized by the pain again and her fingers slipped from the necklace and it fell out of her reach.

Quinn trembled and tried to grab the necklace, her fingers stretched and shaking, until another rush of pain took her mind off it all together. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew she was screaming, the only way her body could respond to the pain it felt. Arthur threw his arm over her and pulled her close to him, laying her by his side and turning his body over hers, he was always trying to save her.

"I'm sorry," she cried softly to him, unaware if he'd be able to hear her.

Arthur's jaw was clenched in pain, but he shook his head the slightest bit. "I would do this again and again for you," he said loud enough for her to hear.

He closed his eyes in pain and opened once it stopped for long enough, Quinn could hardly breath with him over her, that or the pain, but she leaned forward still. "I love you, Arthur. In this life or the next I will always love you," she said, straining her voice for him to hear.

"And I will always love you, Quinn," he leaned forward and kissed her, their lips touched and eyes closed, both waiting for the next burst of pain to tear them apart. Tears slipped from her eyes, so sure her heart would stop beating and take her away from this pain, take them both away.

The pain didn't come though, and the longer they lay still the quieter it became. Quinn opened her eyes at the same moment Arthur opened his and saw the light glowing again brightly beside them. Enough light, she thought, to save them both.

He rolled off her and she moved over, grabbing the band of the necklace and tugging it close as Arthur lifted her up and they turned away from the castle. They ran forward cautiously until they passed through the door, quickly down the steps and onto the beach, ran until their feet touched water and they could go no further.

Arthur pulled her into his arms and they both turned to the castle, it was crumbling now. The spirits were howling and making a maddening sound but they couldn't escape. Stones gave way and crashed onto the ground until all that was left was ruble and dirt. The silence that fell was the most beautiful sound in the world.

The light from the necklace dimmed until all that was left was a pale opaque stone. Quinn placed it around her neck and felt lighter for once without the burden of the screams in her mind. Arthur was safe now and she was so tired. Her eyes felt heavy and she could barely stand any longer, sinking into the ground with Arthur helping her down, "I- I'm so tired," she told him.

Arthur helped her to lay down with her head on his lap and turned out into the water, "Someone's coming," he said tiredly.

Quinn could only pray there was no more to be asked of either of them, she saw through the darkness a boat coming onto the shore and the banner of the king and knights heading toward them.

"The prince! We've found the prince!"

She fell into a calm sleep.

It was warm when she woke, her eyes opened to sunlight and she was surrounded by warm clothes and blankets wrapped around her. They were soft silk sheets and pillows under her head, a warm a safe feeling took her over. Her mind felt cloudy as she adjusted to the light and found herself in a strange room.

"Well it's nice to see you awake," a happy voice rang out, Quinn turned to see Morgana smiling at her from the corner of her room and coming towards her.

"It's nice to see you too," Quinn said relieved.

"We were worried you'd never wake up, it's been nearly three days. Arthur will be glad to see you," she told her.

With that mention of his name Quinn began to wake more, panic rising in her chest, "Is he alright?" she asked.

Morgana nodded, "He's fine, he slept for a day beside you and spends most of his time waiting in here for you to wake," she said softly. "He's out now with Uther, the king asked to see him after he's been gone for so long. He told us you saved his life."

"No," Quinn said, angry with herself, "I nearly killed him."

"Well that's not the story he tells," Morgana said kindly, sitting on the bed beside her.

Gingerly she sat up, her head was still swimming but she moved slowly enough to keep from falling back unconscious. "I remember laying on the beach and there were... people coming, the knights I think."

"Uther sent searches out for Arthur once he went missing, they found your trail leading to the Isle of the Blessed and guessed you had gone out there. When they found you both you were nearly dead but you wouldn't let go of the necklace that you're still wearing. Arthur made them promise you wouldn't be arrested and that was the only way he'd come with them. I told them you could stay in my room when you returned and I would help look after you until everything could be sorted out. Gaius has been giving you medicine and Merlin has been mostly worrying," she said with a bit of a smile.

"Then I owe you too. Thank you, Morgana, for helping me," she said kindly.

"If Arthur loves you then that is enough to make you family," Morgana smiled.

The door to the room opened and Gaius stepped in, a look surprise on his face giving way to a smile when he saw Quinn sitting up and awake. "Now there is a sight to make an old man glad!"

Quinn could have cried with how happy her heart was the see him and a sheepish Merlin from behind enter. "I'm so glad to see you both," she said. They came over and both offered careful hugs as Morgana left to find new clothes for Quinn to wear.

Quinn listened quietly as Merlin recounted what had happened to him after they'd left. He was arrested and put in a holding cell by order of the king, using spells he tried to find them and help in any way he could. More people she had to thank for keeping her and Arthur safe. Once Gaius had given her some medicine to drink she felt better and stronger, having not had much for days it was still too soon to eat but she felt more like her old self.

Again her door opened, this time it was Arthur who came entered. He stopped when he saw her there, the look of worry on his face melting away into one of the smiles she loved to see from him.

"Quinn," he said in one breathless word, a word filled with relief as he rushed over. He placed his hand against her cheek and gently ran his fingers down her jaw, staring transfixed into her eyes as all that had passed between them flooded back. "You're alright," he said now, with a tension lessened off his shoulders.

"I'm perfect, thanks to you," she said.

Arthur leaned in and gently kissed her, their lips brushing and parting for the other, slow, steady and strong. "I love you so much," he whispered.

"I love you too," she told him, feeling a warm glow inside of herself.

Merlin and Gaius turned, busying themselves over at one of Morgana's tables mixing another drink, smiling between each other.

The two pulled apart and Arthur sighed, closing his eyes and laying his forehead against hers. "I was so worried, that you'd never wake up..." he said quietly. "I never want to lose you."

"That's good to know, because I would hate to loose you too, Arthur," she assured him.

"I mean it..." he continued.

"And I mean it too, I never, ever want to lose you. This is forever, in this life and the next," Quinn said.

Arthur pulled back a little, his hand finding hers and and holding her hand in close to his heart, "Then will you do me the greatest honor of becoming my wife?" he asked.

Quinn smiled, so happy and tired and full of love, nodding her head over and over. "Does it mean I'd get to keep you?" she asked.

"Forever," he replied.

"Then yes," she said, "Yes, I will marry you."

After a few more days of rest, entertainment from Merlin and Morgana, medicine and company from Gaius, Quinn felt stronger.

Uther had even come to see her, apologizing to her for trying to have her, well, killed. She said he had nothing to be sorry for since the circumstances were quite different at the time. She was glad for his understanding now and his blessing to the wedding.

It would be a while, she thought, until they could get married. There was so much to do still.

Quinn apologized daily for sending Arthur into the castle, for not telling him what had happened to her in the woods, for lying to him. Each time he told her that he knew what he was doing and would choose to do it again if it meant that she'd be safe.

She had changed what fate decided, or maybe it was all a lie to convince her to kill him, some work of evil magic to kill him. But why use her to do it? Maybe she really was meant to save the future king and helped him to become great. Some men had greatness thrust upon them, he had Quinn.

After a while she moved into another room in the castle, near Morgana who had become one of her closest friends there. She told her everything and Morgana helped Quinn deal with her thoughts and fears over it. When they spent time together it was mostly fun, walking through the markets and watching the knights practice. Morgana was good enough herself with a sword that it made Quinn want to try as well. She'd once been the girl who defended herself with someone else's sword and failed miserably at looking menacing.

Arthur was her main concern though. He worried for her endlessly and she felt it was a full time job to distract him from his thoughts, to help him forget what had happened and the pain they'd both felt. She didn't know how long he'd been tortured in the castle but the memory of it could cling to your skin. At night she'd wake with fear gripping her heart and remember that it was weeks since then and the castle was now in ruins. There was nothing to fear any longer.

They were planning on marrying at the end of the summer once the weather was cooler, it would be a big celebration in the kingdom and Quinn wanted to have as many people as possible there. If she was one day going to be queen she should get to know the people there, to most of them she was still a stranger from another land, she wanted to show that she could be someone worthy of Arthur loving her.

Quinn led herself out of the castle and by the young knights practicing in the yard. She'd been trying her hand with wooden swords and gotten notably better. But every time she watched them practice with real swords and hear the clanking of metal against bodies she felt the pain of ghost bruises on her body from the wooden sword practice. There would have to be a lot of improvement for her to pick up a real sword.

Arthur found her first, handing his things to Merlin who rolled his eyes and put them away while Arthur came over. "Remember what I said about saying thank you to him more?" Quinn asked with a laugh.

He groaned a little and called back an awkward, "Thanks... Merlin," to his servant and Merlin could be heard laughing going back into his tent. "You know, my mother never asked my father to thank his servants," he said.

"And look how he turned out, you can barely get a word in with him. Besides Merlin is your best friend, and don't try to deny it because I won't hear any of it," she smiled.

Arthur gave a laugh and shook his head, "Don't let him hear you say that," he said. "And may I ask what has brought my future wife out here today? I thought you were going to leave with Morgana for Alderon to, uh, shop for fabric for your dress?"

"Morgana will be fine without me for a day, I wanted to talk to you about something actually," Quinn said shyly.

Arthur took hold of her hand gently, turning them both away and walking with her towards no particular destination. "Is everything alright?" he asked cautiously.

"Oh, no, nothing it wrong. I just, this wedding has been, a lot of work..." Quinn began.

"I told you there are people who can plan it all, you don't need to do anything for it we can-"

"No, Arthur, that's not it. I like to plan, it keeps me busy. But it's also made me more homesick than ever. I don't have any family here, none of my friends, I just miss them all," she said.

Arthur listened patiently, holding her hand in his, "I see..."

Quinn sighed, "I'm so glad to be here with you, but I miss them. And I was thinking of a way to bring a part of my home here and thought, what about a glee club?"

"A what?" he asked.

"It's, it's like a choir, for the kids, and I know so many songs that I can teach them to sing and they are easy enough for musicians to make music too. I was part of a glee club and it was one of the greatest things I ever did, the friends I made there helped to save me and make me better. It would be like having a piece of them here with me if I could start one," she said.

Arthur turned to her and smiled, "Of course you can, you don't need my permission, you know that. If you want a... a glee club? Then you can have one, what do you need?" he asked.

"Well I could use a good male vocal lead..." she began, laughing at the look of horror filling Arthur's face. "Don't tell me the future king has stage fright."

Arthur shook his head and pulled her close to him, she happily wrapped an arm around his back and leaned her cheek softly against his chest, "For you, I'm sure I could do anything."


End file.
